The Tale of the Broken Fox
by Dr. Juicy Cushion
Summary: The village believes that Naruto and the Nine tails are the same monster, but they are two different people with two different personalities. Naruto slowly descends into the darkness that people forced him into. Loneliness, Anger, Hatred. Will Naruto spiral into the depths of darkness, or can someone illuminate his path to the light? AU where Naruto changes more as time progresses.
1. I Actually Started To Hate Them

**_Written by _****_Comfy Cushion_** and betaed by **_Juicy Phoenician_** and Dr. Fabulous.

* * *

A Genin is the lowest rank of a ninja. They are usually sent on D-Rank missions, and rarely on C-Rank. Every ninja must start as one in their teams of three looked after by a Jounin, the second highest ranking a ninja can get. Only graduates from a Ninja Academy can become a Genin, however not all of them are able to. Every year, any number of people can graduate from the Academy, however only 9 of these are graduates become Genin every year and all the others are sent back to the Academy. This brief moment between the Academy and ninja is where the not yet Genin meet their Jounin, and get tested on their ability.

Naruto Uzumaki sat among 27 graduates in a classroom. He had blond sparkly hair with blue eyes. He was wearing an orange jacket with orange pants. He was slumped on the table with a battered face. To his left sat Sakura Haruno his crush who he had asked out frequently and was also the cause of Naruto's injuries. Sakura has bright pink hair, large green eyes, and fair skin. She wore a red dress with tight green pants. To her left was the highest ranked graduate Sasuke Uchiha whose first kiss was just stolen by Naruto. Sasuke has dark eyes and dark hair, which some would say match his personality. He wore a blue short-sleeved shirt with a high collar and white arm warmers.

"Next Team 7…" The man standing in the front of the classroom had the undivided attention of the 27 others in the room. This man was Iruka Umino, a Chunin who serves as an instructor at the Academy. It was his job to announce the three man teams that they will complete their final test in. "Sakura Haruno, Naruto Uzumaki, and Sasuke Uchiha".

Just as soon as he finished Naruto's voice boomed through the classroom. "Iruka-sensei! Why does an outstanding ninja like me have to be on the same team as that bum?" Naruto had managed to anger all bar one kunoichi in the room and the killing intent could be felt.

"Sasuke's grades were first among the 27 graduates. You were dead last so we had to balance the teams. Understand?" Most of the room roared with laughter. Naruto was the joke of the academy and everyone knew his name. Be it for his failure as a student or annoying antics; Naruto was the butt of every joke.

"Bah. Just don't get in my way. Dead Last." Sasuke calmly whispered.

"Okay… This afternoon we'll introduce the Jounin-senseis. Until then take a break."

XXX

'Why? Why is it always me?'Naruto sat atop one of the Academy's buildings thinking. All his life Naruto had been subject to unjust hatred by the village around him. No one ever looked at him and saw Naruto Uzumaki; they saw the Nine Tails who attacked Konoha. Naruto learned about this from Mizuki who tried to kill Naruto.

'Am I really a monster? Is there a point to me being alive? When I become the Hokage I will make people regret the way they treated me. I will become Naruto Uzumaki The Five Hokage.'A grin appeared on his face. Anyone who saw it would be able to tell that it is forced. He thought back to a conversation he had with the The Third Hokage a few years ago.

"_Hey Old man, I'm going to become the next Hokage."Hiruzen Sarutobi couldn't help but laugh. "Hey I'm serious here."_

_Calming himself Hiruzen smiled. "Are you sure Naruto? Being the Hokage is hard work. Not just anyone can become the Hokage. The whole village has to recognise your strength."_

"_Then I'll get stronger."_

"_You also have to be smart so you can't become the Hokage." Hiruzen started laughing again._

"_Hey…" Naruto pouted knowing that he had already failed his first year at the Academy. "I'll still do it. I'll become the smartest and strongest in the village then I'll have to be Hokage. Because that is my dream."_

"_Naruto. Becoming the Hokage means that you give up your life for the village. It means that you will protect everyone in the village no matter when, and no matter what. It is a long and tiresome life to lead but it is worth it. Do you think you'll be able to stay to your dream no matter what? Do you think you'll be able to protect the village that will not do the same thing for you? Do you think you'll be able to handle the mountains of paperwork that pile up endlessly?"_

'Will I be able to protect the village? A village that doesn't care for me.' Gruuuuuuu . Naruto's stomach interrupted his thoughts. "Oh no. I hate diarrhoea. Maybe it was bad milk or something."

XXX

"Okay let's begin with some introductions." The tall white haired ninja who claimed to be their Jounin-sensei had taken them outside to talk. His forehead protector covers his left eye while a mask covers his mouth leaving only a portion of his face visible.

"What do you want to know?"

"How about… Your likes, your dislikes, dreams for the future, hobbies, stuff like that."

"Hey hey why don't you introduce yourself first?" Naruto questioned.

"Yeah. You look suspicious…" Sakura nodded furiously.

"Ohh… Me? My name is Kakashi Hatake. I have no desire to tell you my likes and dislikes. Dreams for the future? Hmm… Well I have lots of hobbies… Now it's your turn."

"Me, me… My name is Naruto Uzumaki. I like cup ramen and restaurant ramen. I dislike the time it takes for cup ramen to cook. My dream…" Naruto stopped. He wasn't sure about his dream for the future anymore. With a quick thought he answered. "My dream is to have the village acknowledge my existence. Hobbies… Pranks I guess."

"Next"

"My name is Sasuke Uchiha. There are tons of things I dislike but I don't really like anything. And I don't want to use the word dream but I have an ambition. That is to resurrect my clan and to kill a certain man."

"Hey Kakashi-sensei. Can I change my dislikes? I dislike Sasuke's attitude." Naruto couldn't help but speak. He knew what happened to the Uchiha clan but he still didn't think that, that gave Sasuke a reason to why he was so depressing.

The Uchiha clan was massacred with only a single survivor, Sasuke, leaving him alone for the rest of his Academy days. Naruto understood the sadness of being alone in the world but Sasuke had no right to keep himself depressed. The monster that the village saw as Naruto Uzumaki was alone and mistreated his whole life yet he still managed to smile. Sasuke was denying Naruto's façade and Naruto didn't like it.

"Hmmm… If you say so. And lastly."

"My name is Sakura Haruno the thing I like is… Well… The person I like is… Should I say my dreams for the future? OH MY. The thing I dislike it Naruto. My hobby is…" Throughout her speech Sakura glanced at Sasuke except when stating her apparent dislike for Naruto.

Kakashi couldn't help but sigh. He knew that this group will be a troublesome one. After telling the three about the survival training which may send them back to the academy, and gave them a handout. Kakashi left to visit the Hokage's Office. He had something to discuss with The Third. When he arrived he was escorted straight in.

"So… how was your team Kakashi?" Hiruzen asked. He was anticipating Kakashi's arrival.

"The team is full of problems. They probably won't pass my test but there was something that concerned me."

Hiruzen sat up in his chair preparing for the news. "Oh…? And what might that be?"

"Naruto Uzumaki. I got them to tell me their dreams for the future. You told me that he wanted to become the Hokage, but that is not what he said. He hesitated and had to think about his dream before giving an answer. And his answer was to be acknowledged by the village." Hiruzen's eyes widened. This was a surprise. He still remembered those words the boy told him.

"_I'll still do it. I'll become the smartest and strongest in the village then I'll have to be Hokage. Because that is my dream."_

"What could make him rethink his dream like this? Was the truth that Mizuki told him bad enough for him to change? No that boy is strong. He won't give up on Hokage just yet." Hiruzen held his chin thinking.

Kakashi shrugged his shoulders "It won't matter since he doesn't work well with his team. They'll fail my test and be sent back. That should give him enough time to rethink the change."

X The next day X

"YOU'RE LATE" Sakura and Naruto screamed in unison as their Jounin-sensei gave them a friendly good morning. Kakashi just brushed it off as he set a timer for noon. He pulled out two bells from his pocket.

"Here are two bells. Your task is to take these bells off me before noon. Those who cannot get this bell off me before noon don't get lunch. I'll not only tie you up to one of those stumps but I'll eat it in front of you. You only need to get one bell. There are two, so one of you will definitely be tied to a stump. And the person who doesn't take a bell fails. So, at least one of you will be sent back to the academy. You can even use your shuriken; you won't succeed unless you come at me with the intent to kill."

"But, you'll be in danger." Saukra cried with concern.

"Yeah you're so slow you couldn't even avoid that blackboard eraser. We'll kill you." Naruto grinned. He believed that Kakashi was seriously underestimating them.

"In the real would those with no talent often have the loudest bark. Let's ignore Mr. Dead Last and start."

Naruto clenched his teeth in anger. Why does everyone look down on him? Does Kakashi also only see him as a monster? He quickly pulled out a kunai and got ready to throw it, but before he could Kakashi appeared behind Naruto grabbing his hand.

"Slow down. I haven't said start yet. Well it seems like you're prepared to come at me with the intent to kill. So you've finally acknowledged me? It's a shame because I don't think you will make me acknowledge you guys." This comment was clearly directed at Naruto. "Start".

Sakura and Sasuke instantly disappeared as they went into hiding, but Naruto didn't move, but rather he stared at the ground.

"Hey Naruto. I said start." Still no movement. "Naaaarrruuuutttooooo. Anybody home? In case you didn't learn at the academy the basic of a ninja is to hide well. You probably should do that." Naruto still didn't move, and he didn't even look up. Kakashi leaned in closer to see Naruto's hidden face. On it was a wide grin.

"You won't acknowledge me?" Naruto still had his kunai in hand and swung at the leaned in Kakashi. Kakashi easily dodged by standing straight again. "I'll make you acknowledge me." Naruto put his kunai away and took a rather impractical version of the Academy's Taijutsu stance.

Kakashi sighed. "To think you'd start like this." Putting his hand in his side pouch Kakashi pulled out a book. "Ninja Fighting Lesson #1 Taijutsu. I'll teach you about it. Taijutsu is hand to hand combat. A necessity for a ninja when they have to fight." Opening the book Kakashi started reading.

Naruto stood dumbfounded. Was he being underestimated? He couldn't tell.

"If you don't come at me you won't get a bell. Do you not want to eat?" He was being underestimated. This made him angry. Naruto charged straight at the reading Jounin and sent a flying elbow into his left blind spot. That place was covered by his forehead protector. He shouldn't be able to block. But he did. Kakashi used his left hand to hold the book and his right to block the attack. Not stopping, Naruto kicked and hit nothing but air. The Jounin was underneath the kick giving Naruto the chance to retreat. Hitting the ground Naruto jumped forward again sending another volley of attacks.

This cycle repeated a few more times before someone spoke. "Charging at your enemy like this is going to get you killed. If this wasn't training you'd be dead." Kakashi stopped and appeared behind the landing Naruto.

Kakashi's hands were in the Tiger seal form, the middle and pointer finger held against each other while the others were intertwined. These four fingers are commonly used in seals because they are the easiest to build up chakra with. These fingers are called the chakra fingers and can make a majority of seals with these along. This specific seal was used for high level fire jutsu.

"Hidden Leaf Ancient Taijutsu Supreme Technique A Thousand Years of Pain" Kakashi yelled as he inserted this ninjutsu seal into Naruto's ass, sending him airborne. Naruto landed in the nearby lake.

'Dammit.' He thought 'He's not even trying. At this rate I'll be sent back to the Academy for the fourth time. Or worse I won't get to eat lunch.' He pulled out two shuriken and throwing them from under the water.

XXX

Seeing two shuriken fly out of the water was not surprising for the highly experienced Jounin. He caught them with ease. He walked towards the lake to see Naruto pull himself out of the water.

"Hey, what's wrong? If you don't get a bell by noon you won't be able to eat." He mocked. None of these three had understood the meaning behind this test yet. His Jounin-sensei had taught him that this exercise was meant to build teamwork and they didn't work together similarly. Ever since that day soon, after did he say that he'd use it as a survival test.

"I know which is why I'm not holding back anymore." Naruto made a cross out of his chakra fingers and screamed out "Shadow Clone Jutsu". As he said this twenty Naruto's appeared around Kakashi.

Kakashi looked all around him as each Naruto pulled out a kunai. "Ohh… Ninja Fighting Lesson #2 Ninjutsu. To know an A-Rank jutsu just out of the Academy. This is impressive. But I guess it's okay if I use my own jutsu." All but one Naruto charged simultaneously. Kakashi jumped into the air. Making hand signs "Water Bullets Jutsu." Kakashi opened his mouth spitting out multiple water bullets at the army of Naruto's turning them all into a puff of smoke.

"HEY, WHAT IF I WAS REALLY THERE?" Naruto screamed.

"Only one remained behind. That makes it obvious where the real one is." Kakashi landed and moved towards Naruto getting ready to give his shuriken back. Before he could react the two shuriken turned into Naruto's grabbing his arms and holding him back. The real Naruto smiled as he made more clones. This time he made thirty each with their own kunai that charged at the bound Kakashi. Naruto almost had him until, he flowed into the ground.

"Hey! Where did you go?" Naruto said as a hand appeared under the ground dragging Naruto down so nothing but his head visible.

"Impressive but not enough. It was a good plan but that won't work with your level of skill and chakra. You have more chakra than most but you waste too much. See you're about to pass out."

Naruto's eyelids became heavy forcing them to a close. Kakashi couldn't help but stare as a figure of his past overlapped with Naruto's sleeping face. "Ha. They're nothing alike." A volley of shuriken flew out of the trees hitting the unfocused Jounin. Except it was a log rather than the said Jounin. He used a Kawarimi.

X At noon X

'"_I want to be the Hokage..._" That is what I always thought, but is that really what I want to do now?' Naruto opened his eyes to see an unfamiliar ceiling covered with pipes. He was lying flat in the water that covered the floor. Naruto got up and looked around to see to see a basement looking hallway with pipes along the walls and multiple rooms. "Was there a place like this in Konoha?"

"**Does this look like Konoha to you, brat?**" A booming voice echoed along the hallways.

Naruto jumped with surprise at the sound of the voice. "Where is this then?"

"**This place is…**" Naruto's senses messed up. His eyes blurred and faded into darkness.

Naruto half-opened his eyes for real this time. He felt his back up against a tree or something. What was he doing? Then he remembered his fight.

"Yup, all three of you should quit as ninja." Naruto completely opened his eyes this time. In front of him was his Jounin Kakashi who just said something outrageous. "Oh… Dead Last is finally awake."

"What do you mean quit as ninja?" Naruto was dumbfounded. He wanted to know why a Jounin would say that to his students.

"Did I stutter? I said you are all just punks who don't deserve to be ninja." Naruto got angry and he wasn't the only one. "Are you guys underestimating ninja?" Naruto glanced to his left to see Sakura in panic. He looked to his right and saw Sasuke glancing at him. They both shared a nod and got up in unison. The two of them ran towards Kakashi, Naruto pulled out a kunai and threw it towards Kakashi. This was followed by one of Sasuke's shuriken. The Jounin grabbed the kunai in mid-air and used it to hit away the shuriken, and when he did that he saw the second shuriken hiding behind the first. This was a Shadow Shuriken Technique where one shuriken is hiding in the blind spot of another. Kakashi jumped up avoiding the hidden shuriken.

"Shadow Clone Jutsu" Five Naruto's appeared and quickly ran underneath the airborne Jounin. Kakashi threw Naruto's kunai towards one of the clones bursting it and creating a space for him to land. As soon as he landed he was swarmed with the remaining Naruto clones, but these quickly dispersed with basic Taijutsu.

"Great Fireball Jutsu." Kakashi was met with a fireball. When the fire sizzled out only a log remained. Kakashi walked out of the nearby tree.

"It seems you guys seriously underestimate ninja. But it does seem like you are getting the point of this test. Thought this is why you are punks, you should have let me finish sp…" Kakashi's words were drowned out by the charging duo of Sasuke and Naruto. Naruto leapt into the air sending a kick towards the Jounin's face, at the same time Sasuke launched a punch towards his gut. Kakashi blocked both with ease. The two continued to attack the Jounin as fast as their bodies would let them. But every attack was parried. This continued for a while, the two tried to break through his guard but with a Jounin level Taijutsu nothing would break through. And he was holding back.

"Okay that's enough." Kakashi said as he grabbed both of their legs and dangled them upside down. "Will you listen to what I say?" Kakashi threw the two towards the stumps. Sasuke landed on his feet and Naruto landed face first into the middle stump. As he slid to the ground, Sakura ran to him checking to see if he's alright. "I had a whole speech planned and everything."

"It seems like you guys have accidently figured out the answer to this test, even though it's past noon. The answer was teamwork. If all three of you worked together you may have gotten the bells."

"What do you mean by teamwork? There are only two bells!" Sakura shouted. How were three people supposed to split two bells? "Even if we work together and get the bells, one of us will still fail. What teamwork? That just makes us fight among ourselves."

"The purpose of this test is to see whether you can forget about your own interests and successfully work together under these designed circumstances. Yet… You guys. Sakura instead of Naruto who was right next to you, you were only thinking about Sasuke who was far away. Naruto, you were just running around by yourself. Sasuke, you just assumed the others would get in your way and tried to do everything yourself. Well until the end there where you worked together. You should notice that there are some things that you cannot do alone."

"Some things can't be done alone" Naruto repeated. Those words had a bigger impact on him than Kakashi anticipated. If some things cannot be done alone, then why is the Hokage the one who protects the village? Can one person really do that alone?

"The duties are done by the team. Of course superior individual ability is important for a ninja. But what's even more important for a ninja is teamwork. Individual play that disrupts the team can put your comrades in danger, and even get you killed. You will be risking your lives in these duties. Look at the numerous names carved on this stone. These are ninjas who are recognised as heroes of the village. But, they aren't just normal heroes."

Naruto, who was paying more attention than ever before, couldn't help but become eager at the stone. Anyone on that stone was acknowledged by the village. That stone may be Naruto's dream except… "What type of heroes are they?"

Kakashi remained silent for a few seconds. "They are heroes who died in the line of duty. This is a memorial." The three students face dropped. They had no idea that they were in front of a memorial site. "My best friends name is also carved here. This is why teamwork is necessary not only for the competition of the missions you receive but if you work as a team your chance of survival is higher. But for now congratulations you pass."

"Yeah!" Naruto jumped up in a cheer. Both Sakura and Sasuke smiled at his cheer.

"But there is one thing I want you to remember. Those who break the rules and codes of the ninja world are called trash. But those who don't take care of their comrades are lower than trash. That ends the training. All of you pass! Starting tomorrow Team 7 will begin its active duties."

XXX

Once again Naruto opened his eyes to see the unfamiliar ceiling he saw earlier. This time he was a little calmer and got a better look. He had never seen this place before but was able to recognise its feel. It was flooded with chakra. His own chakra. But that was not the unusual part, there was another chakra mixed in with his.

"**Oh… you're back brat?**" The loud booming voice from before rang out. "**Come over here I'd like to see you**." Naruto heard the voice in the distance. Following the sound he realised that the unfamiliar chakra was getting stronger the further he went. "**Hurry up. You'll leave again if you don't.**" Naruto finally found the room where the voice was coming from. Walking into that room, he saw a giant metal gate held together by a piece of paper with 'Seal' written on it. But that wasn't the surprise. There was a giant shadow hiding behind the gate. "**Come closer**" the shadow demanded. Naruto couldn't help but edge forward. A giant claw tried to break through the gate and attack the unaware boy. "**I want to eat you, but this damn seal.**"

Finally realising the situation Naruto's eyes opened in fear "You are… The Nine Tails …" This was the monster that was sealed within him. This thing was the reason for all of his problems. The hatred from the village, his lack of friends, the fact that he had no family.

"**For you to come here. What do you want?**" Naruto had thought for a long time since Mizuki told him about the Nine Tails within him but what did he want?

"I… have…. a question, if that's okay." Naruto mumbled. His voice got softer as he spoke.

"**Question? What could you possibly ask?**" The Nine Tails leaned in closer out of curiosity.

Naruto awkwardly glanced at the Nine Tails while looking down. "You… You don't want to be sealed within me?"

The Nine Tails stood back up screaming "**OF COURSE I DON'T. Why would I want to be sealed in a baby? Will you hurry up and die so I can revive after five years? Or will you continue to live your pointless life as my jailor?**"

"Do you think I want you here? My life has sucked because you are here, and here you are asking me to die? If you didn't attack my village then I wouldn't have you inside me, and I would have a family. Yet you think you have the right to get angry at me?"

"**I didn't attack your village. There were… circumstances behind that. But that is where we see differently. You are my prison which I hate, and I am your prisoner which you hate. We both hate the other and cause each other strife yet we are stuck in this position. I doubt that was your question so ask your real one.**"

"Um… first of all. I don't hate you, I hate that I'm your jailor. Ever since I was told about you I've been thinking, you didn't choose to be stuck here and so it shouldn't be your fault. So it isn't you that I should hate but The Fourth Hokage who sealed you inside me."

"**I'm impressed to think that you'd think that way. But that is wrong. The Fourth had a reason for why he sealed me inside of you. If I were in his position I would have done the same. There was a lot more going on during your birth date than you realise. You are still too young to need to know, well it doesn't really matter, you'll be dead and I'll be free before long.**"

"Of course he had a reason. He sealed you inside me because you were destroying the village. But that doesn't matter anymore, nothing will change it. My question is do you see everything that I see? My daily life, do you know what I do?"

"**Unfortunately, it is the only thing that I am able to look at even though it holds no interest to me. Although, I do agree with your decision to become a ninja, you'll be putting your life on the line meaning there is a higher chance of you dying and me being freed.**"

"If you see everything I see, then do you also know what my dream was?"

"**You're not turning this into some shitty counselling session are you?**"

"You see I've always thought that if I became the Hokage people would finally realise who I am."

"**Oh no… I'm not listening.**" The Nine Tails covered his ears with his paws.

"I thought that I was unwanted so I pulled pranks so people will at least acknowledge that Naruto Uzumaki exists. But then I found out about you so I realised that people hated me not for me, but for you. They didn't even see me. I wasn't even there. And then I continued to think, if they hated you so much why was I the one being mistreated? What did I do to them? And then I actually started to hate them. All the sadness that they forced onto me, I wanted to return it to them. Is it wrong for me to think like that?"

"**That explains how you got here. You started to hate making it easier for the two of us to synch. The answer is no. Your hatred is not misplaced, even the most righteous can get corrupted. You want people to see you as a Naruto Uzumaki, but so far only that Academy teacher, your Jounin and your own generation see you as that. The rest of the village hate you so there is nothing wrong with hating them.** **Your dream is no longer to become the Hokage, but to be acknowledged by the village. You don't have to be a part of the village to be acknowledged. You can become an acknowledged murderer. That's always an option.**"

"No, I hate the way they treated me but I don't hate the village. I can't hate my home."

"**I didn't expect you to be able to. It is a shame that you care so much for something that doesn't care for you. Try being a little bit selfish.**"

"Thank you Nine Tails for listening."

"**I didn't have a choice you little brat. I am stuck here.**"

"Thanks anyway. Do you have a name? Or are you just known as the Nine Tails?"

"**A name?**"

"Yes, something your parents named you? Oh do you also not know your parents? Wait are there more giant foxes running around?"

"**No I know my parent but I'm the only fox. My father named me Kurama.**"

"Okay, thanks Kurama. Tell me about your father sometime alright."

"**I don't want to talk to you again. Just die already.**" Naruo turned away and disappeared. '**He wanted to know my name. This kid is an Uzumaki yet he asked me for my name. Interesting kid, if only Kushina could see him now. She'd tell him off. Hahahaha.**"

XXX

Naruto woke up in a cold sweat. He just had a conversation with the Nine Tails that attacked the village, killed his family, and ruined his life. And its name was Kurama. Looking at the clock by his bed he saw that it was 5 in the morning. He was meeting up with his newly former Team 7 at 10 so he had time to waste. His room was a mess, clothes were everywhere and they were all the same orange shirt and pants. With another quick look around he saw the photo that his team took yesterday next to his alarm clock. He quickly grabbed his outfit and put them on.

"Damn Kurama, making me get up so early." Naruto lazily got up and rummaged through his kitchen trying to find some sort of food. The only thing he could find was cup ramen. Grumbling Naruto begun making one and ate it furiously. With so much extra time there was only one thing that Naruto could think of doing. He had finally become a ninja but he was only a Genin. Kakashi was a Jounin and was on another level entirely. Naruto knew that it was time to train.

Quickly leaving his house making sure it was locked up, Naruto ran to the closest training field. The clock just as the time hit 5:30. The training field was empty which was of no surprise; they may be a hidden village but no one wants to wake up for 5:30 training alone, and teams usually had their own training area, but Naruto just became a Genin so his team didn't have a training area yet. Looking around Naruto noticed three training logs stuck into the ground to train Taijutsu, but he needed to work on his shuriken throwing so he walked over to the trees where targets were posted everywhere.

Naruto aligned himself at a fair distance from his target and pulled out a shuriken. Naruto mentally prepared himself and carefully took aim. He stood there for another 30 seconds trying to get into the right mood. Until a voice yelled at him from the trees. "THROW IT ALREADY." The girl's voice startled Naruto into throwing his weapon missing the target completely.

"HEY!" Naruto screamed "I WAS CONCENTRATING."

"No you were wasting time. If you were on a mission you would have been killed by then."

"Bah… This isn't a mission though." Naruto grabbed another shuriken and threw it at the target. The shuriken hit the edge of the target.

"You missed again… you're bad at this aren't you?" The girl sighed. "How did you pass the Academy with this level of skill?" A girl wearing a pink sleeveless blouse and dark green pants jumped down from the tree. Her hair was in two buns on either side of her head.

Naruto pointed at the now visible girl. "AAAAHH. You're from the Academy. You became a Genin last year." Naruto failed twice before so he was familiar with some of the other older students. He remembered this girl because she was always practicing her shuriken and she never missed.

"You remembered me. My name is Tenten and I know who you are Naruto Uzumaki. Everyone in the Academy knew your name."

Naruto rubbed his nose. "Hehe. So I'm famous."

"Yeah you were the annoying prankster." Naruto's face fell. "I'm guessing that you're officially a Genin now? You have the forehead protector. Who's your Jounin?"

"Yeah, we became Genin yesterday. Our Team 7 has Kakashi-sensei." Naruto said proudly. He knew how strong his teacher was.

"Eh… Guy-sensei's rival Kakashi-sensei? Oh I heard he's an excellent ninja. So why don't you train with him?"

"We are meeting up later so until then I'm going to train."

"Can I join you? I'm always here at this time."

X A week later X

Team 7 walked towards the Hokage's Office with a cat in hand. The cats name was Tora; he has a ribbon in his left ear and was owned by the Feudal Lords wife. To find and capture Tora was a mission given to Team 7. Naruto was taking the lead as he though how annoying it was to continue with little mission like this. They weren't hard just long and worthless. Naruto had been training every morning with Tenten. They practised throwing weapons and Taijutsu every morning. Naruto had greatly improved his accuracy now hitting the centre of the target 9 times out of 10, while Tenten had a sparring partner who wasn't completely out of her league. She told Naruto that her two Genin teammates and Jounin-sensei were Taijutsu specialists. Also, Naruto hasn't spoken to Kurama since that night. He wasn't sure how to contact the fox nor did he think the fox wanted to speak with him. Naruto wasn't worried by this. It wasn't like Kurama could go anywhere.

They finally arrived at the Hokage's Office with cat in hand. The Feudal Lord wife was overjoyed to have her cat back but that didn't really concern Naruto. He knew what he wanted and he was going to get it.

"Now… Kakashi's Team 7 your next duty is babysitting an elder's grandson, shopping in a neighbouring village, and helping with the potato digging." The Third Hokage was giving the next orders for their team.

Naruto crossed his arms in front of his body yelling "NONONO Thank you! I want to do a more incredible mission! Find us a better one!" Naruto had planned that and his message got across when Sasuke's silent agreement met his ears.

Iruka who was helping Hiruzen today slammed his hands on the table, stood up and yelled back "You idiot! You are just a rookie! Everyone starts off with simple duties and works their way up!"

"But we keep getting the crappiest possible duties!" Naruto would not back down until Kakashi punched the top of his head.

"Be quiet you." Kakashi demanded.

"Naruto, it seems like I have to explain to you what these duties are all about." Hiruzen took his pipe that he'd been smoking up until now out of his mouth. This is important information for Naruto to know for if he becomes the Hokage. "Listen every day in the village we receive numerous requests from babysitting to assassination. Each request is written down in these lists and divided into an A, B, C, D rank based on difficulty. The village is also divided based on skill, starting with me to the Jonin, Chunin, Genin, and lastly Academy students. The missions are then handed out by us to the ninja based in their level of skill. And if that duty is successfully completed we receive a payment from the client. You guys just became Genin so a D-Rank mission is perfect for you."

During that lecture, Naruto had somehow managed to slump onto the floor and dose off. After a quick kick from Kakashi, Naruto jumped up and wiped the drool off his face. Taking a quick breath Naruto prepared to yell again but stopped himself. Instead he calmly spoke "I know all that stuff old man. I also know that there is a higher rank of mission than that, the S-Rank mission only given to the elite." The Chunin and above looked surprised. Naruto knew about the secret S-Rank mission after only being a Genin for a week. "I know we can handle at least B-Rank." Naruto stood back proudly. He made a mental note to thank Tenten for telling him about the S-Rank missions.

"Okay. If you think you can, I'll give you a C-Rank mission. It's a mission to protect a certain individual." Everyone in the room except Naruto looked at The Third in astonishment. He willingly gave them a C-Rank mission because of Naruto's words. "Hey, come in here." The Hokage called in their client for the mission.

"What's this?" An old man walked through the door with a bottle of sake in hand. He wore a typical builder outfit "They're all just a bunch of super brats. The shortest one with the stupid looking face, are you really a ninja?"

After a quick glance to both sides Naruto realised that he was the shortest. "Tch… This bastard hates me already." Naruto muttered to himself. The person who he had to protect already judged him on his appearance.

"I am the expert bridge builder Tazuna. I expect you to provide me super protection until I get back to my country and complete the bridge."

XXX

Team 7 was walking down the road with Tazuna the bridge builder, on their first C-Rank Mission. Sakura was talking to Kakashi about the world and Kage's but this didn't really interest Naruto. He was too busy hating Tazuna's attitude.

'**Oh… hating enough to visit me again? I guess you really don't like this Tazuna. Just kill him already.**'

"KURAMA?" Naruto screamed earning him a weird look from his companions.

'**Don't scream. Think it to me. Don't speak out loud or else others will hear you. If you direct your thoughts towards me then we can talk like this.**'

'Kurama. What do you mean hating enough? Do I have to be angry at something to speak with you?'

'**It is the way this seal works it's made to let our chakra mix. The stronger you become the more we can interact but for now you are only strong enough for a conversation when you're either angry or have enough hatred. Eventually we won't have to wait for you to be angry. When you get stronger we should be able to talk at will.**'

'Why would you tell me this? Wait did you actually want to speak with me?' Naruto continued to walk with a giant grin on his face. To anyone else he looked like a giant idiot laughing at his own jokes.

'**Oh shut up brat. I have nothing to do being stuck in here and all. I may be old but being trapped in a pre-pubescent kid and watch him fail miserably at courting the alleged love of his life is hardly what I'd call entertaining. Though I do admit seeing it from a guy's perspective is an improvement.**'

Naruto frowned causing Kakashi to eye him weirdly 'Well sorry that I'm not entertaining for you. You know I am just trying to live my life here. But yeah it was boring, that's why I asked for a higher ranked mission. So now it should be less boring.'

'**Yeah you have a higher chance of dying which is perfect for me.**'

'I won't die. This is only a C-Rank mission. We'll only be fighting bandits and stuff. No ninja, I can easily take those guys.'

'**You say that but you might want to pay more attention.**'

"But don't worry there won't be any ninja combat in a C-Rank mission." Kakashi pat Sakura on the head.

"Then we won't come into contact with any foreign ninja?" Sakura jumped gleefully.

"Of course not! Hahahahaha" Tazuna looked down with a gloomy face. Naruto could tell something was wrong. What did Kurama see? Naruto noticed a puddle of water on the side of the road. When was the last time it rained? Continuing to look back Naruto saw two unfamiliar ninja appear out of the puddle on the side of the road. The two ninja each had a metal claw wrapped around their hand, one on his left, the other on his right. These claws were attached by a chain with sharp edges. One threw the other towards Kakashi. The chain wrapped around him.

"One down" The two spoke just before they both pulled on their side of the chain. Kakashi was cut into multiple pieces by the chain leaving little left of their Jounin. The three Genin didn't have enough time to react before the two appeared behind Naruto.

"Two down." They said in unison. Naruto's eyes widened in fear, he knew he wouldn't be fast enough to dodge. Just before the chain hit Naruto, a shuriken slammed it into a tree. This was quickly followed by a kunai which further jammed the chain into the tree. The two ninja couldn't get free. Sasuke landed on top of the claws surprising the foreign ninja. Supporting himself with his hands, Sasuke kicked both immobile ninja in the head causing them to stagger. Almost instantly the two detached the chain from their claws and charged towards their targets. The left claw ninja targeted Naruto while the right claw ninja targeted Tazuna.

'**They underestimate you brat. Rule number one of assassins, kill the weaker target first. They think you're weak. FIGHT!**' Kurama encouraged Naruto to move. He jumped backwards pulling out a kunai and quickly threw in between the right clawed ninja and Tazuna, who was now covered by Sakura, forcing him to stop. This gave Sasuke enough time to get in between the right clawed ninja and Tazuna. The left clawed continued to charge at Naruto who had landed on all fours. Using all his limbs, Naruto launched himself towards the left clawed ninja at an alarming speed. It was impossible for Naruto to block the claw at such a speed. Naruto stayed as low on the ground as possible narrowly ducking under the left claw. Planting both hands into the ground Naruto used a double upper kick into the ninja's jaw sending him airborne. Tenten had taught him this move. It was used by one of her teammates.

"Sasuke, I'll take this one, you take that one." Naruto said while glancing towards Sasuke who just nodded to say that he understood. Sasuke had adopted a defensive stance to not only fight but protect the two behind him. All he could do was hope Naruto could defeat his opponent then help him protect them. The right claw ran towards Sasuke who parried his attack with a kunai. As soon as he regained his stance the right clawed ninja attacked again which was also parried. This bombardment of attacks was hard for Sasuke to parry but it was impossible for him to dodge because Sakura would get hit instead.

Meanwhile, Naruto was standing off against his opponent. The left clawed ninja clearly outclassed Naruto in both speed and strength, but Naruto still had his trump card, his unpredictability. From the corner of his eye, he could see Sasuke struggling to hold off his opponent, but if Naruto moved to help him he would be attacked. What could he do? '**Did you not hear what I said? They are underestimating you. They attacked you first because they thought you were weak. They don't even think that they need to attack you together. They don't acknowledge you so you have every right to hate them. HATE THEM.**' A wave of killing intent flowed out of Naruto. This cold chill made the foreign ninja's hesitate. This gave Naruto an opening. He charged towards the left clawed ninja. Sasuke also would have attacked if not for the surprise of Naruto's killing intent. The right claw gained awareness first attacking Sasuke again. The left claw followed shortly after attacking the oncoming Genin. Naruto realised his blunder, there was an opening but he was not fast enough. Naruto closed his eyes awaiting his fate.

A blur dashed past Tazuna and Sakura clashing with the right clawed ninja and continued until it hit the left clawed ninja. Naruto opened his eyes to see a Jounin standing in front of him with a ninja under each arm. Kakashi had used a Kawarimi at the very first attack. The three Genin and Tazuna all relaxed with the sudden appearance of their saviour.

"Tazuna-san. We need to talk."

* * *

**A/N**

Thank you for reading this first chapter of the Tale of the Broken Fox. This will be an interesting spin on canon if Naruto was just a little bit less of his Canon self. Other characters you see may act differently towards the Naruto in this because people usually respond. Look forward to more chapters whenever.

Signing out Comfy Cushion


	2. There Is No Such Thing As A Hero

**_Written by _****_Comfy Cushion_** and betaed by **_Juicy Phoenician_** and Dr. Fabulous.

* * *

"These look like Hidden Mist Chunins." Kakashi, the masked Jounin-sensei for Team 7 observed about their two captives who had just made an assault on Tazuna the bridge builder's life. The two were tied to a tree while surrounded by Kakashi, Naruto, Sakura, Sasuke, and Tazuna. "These ninja's are known to continue fighting no matter what."

Most of the Elemental Nations have a hidden village where their countries ninja are located. But the most notable ones are those from the Five Great Ninja Countries. These are the Land of Earth, the Land of Lightning, the Land of Water, the Land of Wind, and the Land of Fire. The hidden village of these nations are stronger than that of the others and have gotten into three ninja wars which shook the world. The Hidden Mist village is the hidden village from the Land of Water, and the Hidden Leaf village is the hidden village from the Land of Fire. The other hidden villages are Hidden Rock village in the Land of Earth, the Hidden Cloud village in the Land of Lightning, and the Hidden Sand village in the Land of Wind.

"How did you read our movements?" One of the Hidden Mist ninja asked.

"On a sunny day like this when it hasn't rained in days there's not going to be a puddle. The funny thing is I wasn't the only one that noticed. Right, Naruto?" After a grin and a nod from Naruto; Kakashi looked back to the two pondering what to do. "Now that I know what I wanted I might as well kill you. I mean I don't think that you guys will tell me anything else, willingly that is. You guys walk ahead. I'll finish business here quickly." The three Genin took Tazuna and walked ahead quickly and quietly.

Kakashi soon caught up with them. The four had agreed to not ask what he did to their assailants. However the question was clearly written on their faces. Kakashi just smiled and said "I just asked them a couple of questions while they were under my Genjutsu, if you guys were there you may have ruined it. Don't worry their still alive, just a little rattled. Now Tazuna-san, I wasn't told that there would be ninja after your life. This was supposed to be a simple protection until you get back to your country and finish your bridge. If it were known that ninja's were after you, this mission would have been set at the more expensive B-Rank mission. I'm sure you had a reason, but it causes problems when you lie about missions. We are now operating outside of our duties. This may be too much for us."

Tazuna just looked at the ground. He knew he had lied but he didn't have a choice he needed the protection. "Sensei, I have to talk to you."

XXX

Tazuna then went into explaining his problem. One of the richest business men in the whole Elemental Nations was after his life. Gatou legally ran a large shipping company but he also dabbled in illegal businesses such as drugs and ran a black market. He used ninjas to take over other businesses and even countries that he wanted. Gatou had started trying to take over the whole Wave Country and had obtained a monopoly on traffic; however the bridge that Tazuna was building could ruin this monopoly so Gatou was after Tazuna's life. Tazuna could not afford the B or A-Rank mission that this would cost because of Gatous influence so he had lied to gain protection. Somehow at the end of his speech he had suckered Kakashi into taking him back to his country. And this is where they were now.

The group of five had just departed from their boat driver as they now take on foot towards Tazuna's home. The four ninja of the group were at max awareness hoping that no one would attack them until they made it back safely.

Sasuke was lost in thought. He and Dead Last had fought against two Chunin together. If either of them had been a second slower in their reactions they all would of died. Of course they would have been saved by their Jounin but it wasn't the point. He and Naruto successfully fought together for the second time. The first being their final test to becoming ninja. Sasuke couldn't help but grin. He had always been watching Naruto from afar. Neither of them spoke to the other but they both had no family which was a bond that they shared. Was it that bond that made them work so well together? Sasuke couldn't help but wonder.

Meanwhile Kurama decided to speak to Naruto again '**You did good back there kid. Next time hate more so I can lend you some of my power.**'

'WHAT DO YOU MEAN I DID GOOD? I ALMOST DIED. It's because you told me to get angry. Wait if the angrier I get the more I can use your power, does that mean you'll have more control over my body?'

'**Dammit. You're meant to be stupid. How could you figure that out? Are you actually smart or something? No, that's impossible. Yes the angrier you get or the more hatred you have for your opponent, the more of my power you can use, but if you use too much I will get control of your body and break out. So get angry will you.**'

'No way. I will never let you out. Won't I die?'

'**Yes you will. Will you get angry, please?**'

'Shut up you damn fox.'

'**By the way. The bush to your left has an enemy. Would you please charge straight in and get killed for me.**' Upon hearing this Naruto quickly pulled out a shuriken and threw it where Kurama had said. Kakashi walked forward to look where it landed. He also felt a presence from that bush. There was a snow bunny. Sakura hit Naruto from behind.

"Naruto, what have you done!?" She screamed at the floored Naruto.

'**That's a snow rabbit kid. They're only white during the winter. It's spring. If you like that girl, you'll drag her down now.**'

Naruto reached up and grabbed Sakura's arm and threw her down beside him. A split second after he grabbed her Kakashi screamed "GET DOWN.", just before ducking himself. Tazuna and Sasuke also quickly ducked narrowly avoiding a spinning blade that flew just above their heads. The blade stuck into a tree and it became clear that it was a large sword. They would have paid more attention to the sword if not for the ninja who landed on top of it. This ninja was tall and muscly, had short black spiky hair and deep brown eyes. He wore large baggy pants with no shirt, had a belt tied around his neck and wrapped the lower half of his face in bandages.

"Well well, if it isn't the Hidden Mist's Missing-Nin Zabuza Momochi-kun." As soon as Kakashi said this he stuck both of his hand out in an attempt to stop anyone from going past him. "Everyone get back, this guy is on a whole other level than those other two. This guy is a high A-Rank and low S-Rank Missing-Nin."

Missing-Nin are ninja who have severed their ties with their village with no intention of returning, often because they have committed criminal acts or to pursue other personal gains. Ninja from their village usually try to have these Missin-Nin killed as they may have secrets of the village that they do not want getting out. These ninja are ranked similarly to missions; they go from D-Rank to S-Rank ranked on their strength and/or a significant reason why their death is necessary. In front of them was an incredibly strong ninja.

Kakashi grabbed the forehead protector that was covering his left eye and slowly pulled it up. "It will be a little tough unless I do this."

"You appear to be the Sharingan Kakashi. Sorry but the old man is mine."

"Surround and protect Tazuna-san. Do not enter this fight. That is the teamwork here. Zabuza first, fight me." Kakashi's forehead protector now sat properly along his forehead revealing his left eye. A scar ran vertically along his face going over his undamaged left eye. This eye was different than his normal one. It was red with a single black dot in its centre. It also had three black tomoe surrounding the centre dot.

"Ah… I already get to see the famous Sharingan. I'm honoured." Zabuza remained on top of his sword as he looked down at the now revealed left eye. Naruto could see that Zabuza had no interest in the three Genin that stood in what was about to be a battlefield, but Naruto had a more important question.

"Sharingan. What the hell is that?" He had never heard of this before.

"Sharingan." Sasuke started explaining what the Sharingan was. "It is said that some have the ability to their eyes to read and defeat all types of Taijutsu, Genjustu, and Ninjutsu. The Sharingan is one of the types of pupil that give you this power. But that's not the only ability the Sharingan has."

"Hehe, exactly. That's not all. What's even scarier is that you can copy your opponent's techniques once you see them. When I was a member of the Hidden Mist's assassin team, I kept a handbook, it included your information. And this is what it said, The man who had copied over 1000 jutsu, the Copy-Ninja Kakashi." The three Genin all stared at their instructor. They did not expect this from him. "Now, let's end all the talking. I have to kill that old man. But Kakashi it seems I need to beat you first." Zabuza jumped off the tree pulling the sword out with him; and landed on top of the nearby lake. Getting a better look at the sword it was larger than the man carrying it. It had two holes, one near the tip directly in the centre of the sword, and the other was changing the shape of the blade edge closer to the base. These conveniently placed holes made this weapon good for decapitation. The three Genin took a defensive stance surrounding Tazuna.

'**Hey kid. Watch this fight and don't miss a second. This is how real ninja fight.**' Zabuza was standing on the water with his left hand up in the air while his right was in front of his mouth. With all chakra fingers pointed up he said "Ninpou Hidden Mist Jutsu." As he said this mist started spreading from his body covering everything in the nearby surroundings; it was almost impossible to see through. Zabuza could no longer be seen through this fog. The Genin could barely see Kakashi's back but they still stood their ground protecting the defenceless Tazuna.

"He'll come after me first. Zabuza Momochi. As a member of the Hidden Mist he was known as an expert in silent killing. You don't even notice until you're already dead. It's not like I can use the Sharingan perfectly. You guys be careful." Three distinct gulping sounds could be heard through the mist. The Genin just realised how outmatched they were. The mist begun getting thicker when a transcendent voice carried throughout the mist.

"_**8 choices. Liver, lungs, spine, clavicle vein, neck vein, brain, kidneys, heart. Which one should I go after first?**_" After the voice stopped, a large wave of killing intent was thrown towards the group. The Genin understood that one wrong move will mean death. Sasuke started shivering; the fear of death was too much for him.

"Sasuke, don't worry. I'll protect you guys even if it kills me." Kakashi's words managed to calm the staggering Genin. "I don't let my comrades die."

"_**We'll see about that.**_" The voice returned but this time it came from a single position. In between the Genin was a tall man with a giant sword. Zabuza began to swing his sword when Kakashi dived forward pushing away the Genin and stabbing Zabuza in the gut with his kunai. Rather than blood water dripped out of Zabuza's freshly acquired wound. Almost instantly, another Zabuza appeared behind Kakashi swinging his sword, which cut cleanly through the Jounin earning a scream from Sakura. But once again there was no blood, only water.

"Don't move." The Jounin who has already died twice today appeared behind Zabuza holding a kunai to his throat. "It's over."

"Hehe, you don't get it. There's no way you'll be able to beat me with your monkey like imitations." Zabuza said confidently. "But that was very impressive of you. At that time, you had already copied my Water Clone Jutsu. You had your clone say those words to attract my attention while the real you hid in the mist and watched me. But…" Before Kakashi could react another Zabuza appeared behind him. The Zabuza in front of him was a clone as well. Quickly turning around Kakashi saw an oncoming sword swing and ducked underneath. Zabuza lodged his sword in the ground at the end of his swing, then pushed off the tip launching a kick towards Kakashi. This sent Kakashi flying into the lake. Zabuza was about to charge forward when he saw the floor in front of him covered by makibishi.

"Foolish" Zabuza commented on Kakashi's attempt to slow him down. Kakashi tried to pull himself out of the water but it was denser than usual. Zabuza appeared behind the stuck Kakashi making hand seals for a Jutsu. Kakashi caught a glimpse of it out of the corner of his eyes and recognised it. "Water Prison Jutsu." The water around Kakashi gathered into a ball with him in the centre. Zabuza's right arm was inside the ball keeping its shape together. "Hehehe, I now have you in my inescapable special prison. You know, it makes things tougher for me if you can move. Now Kakashi we can finish things later. First I'll take care of them. "Water Clone Justu."

Another Zabuza formed out of the lakes water. This Zabuza walked towards the Genin while speaking. "Hehe, wearing a forehead protector and acting like real ninja. Hehehe. But you know what? A real ninja is someone who has survived numerous brushes with death. Basically, once you're good enough to be listed in my handbook then you can start calling yourself ninja. You guys should not be referred to as ninja." The clone appeared in front of Naruto at an alarming speed, and kicked Naruto in the face sending him flying. Naruto's forehead protector flew off his head and landed right beneath Zabuza, who stepped on it.

"Naruto" Sakura screamed out in concern.

The Genin heard a bubbled yell come from their trapped Jounin. "YOU GUYS! TAKE TAZUNA-SAN AND RUN AWAY! YOU HAVE NO CHANCE OF BEATING HIM! AS LONG AS HE'S KEEPING ME TRAPPED HERE HE CAN'T MOVE! THE WATER CLONE CAN'T GO VERY FAR FROM HIS REAL BODY! JUST RUN AWAY NOW!"

'This is a Jounin, a real ninja. At this rate he'll kill me.'

'**Ohhh… Running away are we brat? That's pathetic**'

'But I can't beat him. I'm going to die if I stay. Even Kakashi-sensei told me to run.'

'**If you do. Kakashi will die. He knows that the chance of Zabuza giving him a chance to leave his trap unharmed is slim. But he is a ninja who prioritises the lives of his comrades. Do you not remember what he told you a week ago. "**_But there is one thing I want you to remember. Those who break the rules and codes of the ninja world are called trash. But those who don't take care of their comrades are lower than trash_**" He won't care what happens to him as long as you are alive. Besides, are you really happy with running away while that bastard has Iruka's headband?**'

Naruto looked at Zabuza's feet to see his headband that he got from Iruka underneath. The headband which symbolised the first time Naruto was acknowledged as Naruto Uzumaki and not he Nine Tails who attacked the village was being stepped on by a Jounin level Missing-Nin who does not acknowledge him as a real ninja. The anger built up within Naruto as he charged forward.

"NARUTO WHAT ARE YOU THINKING?" Sakura screamed as Naruto reached Zabuza. As soon as Naruto was close enough, Zabuza kicked him back. "What are you doing jumping in all by yourself? We Genin have no chance against him."

"Tehe." Naruto coughed out a laugh while his hand grasped onto the forehead protector that he just recovered. "That is where you are wrong Sakura-chan. The thing we are fighting is nothing but a clone. The only thing stopping us is our mission. Old man, you are our employer, you make the choice." Naruto looked back to see Tazuna with a giant grin on his face.

"You're a lot better than I thought kid. This battle is for my life. Even if we run we probably won't be able to survive for very long without that Jounin. I'm sorry guys but I'm not going to tell you to run. Will you take this gamble with me? Fight as much as you want and free your sensei." Tazuna finished with the smile he started with.

"You hear that?" Sasuke asked. Sasuke and Naruto shared a smile.

A crazy laughter could be heard coming from the clone. "Hahahaha. You guys will never grow up. There is no gamble to be made here. This isn't a game where you can breeze by playing ninja. When I was your age these hands were already dyed red with blood."

"Devil Zabuza" Kakashi couldn't help but comment.

"Long ago in the Hidden Mist village, also known as the Blood Mist village there was a final obstacle in becoming a ninja."

"Oh… so you even know about that graduation exam. The fight to the death between the students. Friends who had trained together and eaten together were pitted against each other in death match battles until one of them loses his life. Of course this changed." Even though his mouth was covered they could tell he was smiling.

Kakashi finished for Zabuza "Without pause or hesitation a young boy who was not even a ninja had killed over 100 of the students earning him the name Devil Zabuza."

Sasuke and Sakura flinched with fear while Naruto just smiled. "Tehe. So in other words, you don't think we are ninja's because we didn't kill off our teammates. Shall we show you why you are wrong? We are Team 7 and our strength comes from when we are working together." Sasuke smiled and stood beside Naruto. Sakura was about to walk forward when Naruto said "Sorry Sakura-chan do you mind sitting this one out? We need one of us to watch over the old man just in case." Sakura nodded and took a defensive stance in front of Tazuna.

Sasuke charged forward in a similar way to what Naruto did earlier, but this time the Zabuza clone grabbed his sword with his right hand and swung it at the oncoming Sasuke. Just before the sword hit him, Sasuke was pulled back by Naruto giving Sasuke nothing but a cut shirt. Naruto had used the momentum of pulling Sasuke back to jump up towards the clones face. Naruto placed his chakra fingers in a cross. Zabuza used his right hand to punch Naruto in the face but not before five more Naruto's appeared around the clone. Naruto was sent flying across the battlefield and smashed into the nearby tree. Zabuza had reinforced his arm with his chakra in an attempt to kill the boy. With a quick sweep of his right arm and sword the Naruto clones disappeared into puffs of smoke. These puffs blocked the clone's vision. The clone barely saw a kunai followed by five shuriken fly towards him and dodged to the right accordingly. The throwing weapons continued to fly and were on course to hitting the real Zabuza who was keeping Kakashi captive. Using his left arm Zabuza caught the kunai and used it to hit the five shuriken into the ground.

"To think that you were aiming for the real me. It's a shame that it wasn't enough. Now it's time for you to die like your orange friend." The Zabuza clone walked forward with his sword in hand.

"Don't count me out just yet, no eyebrows." A bruised and bloody Naruto walked towards the clone while clutching his broken left arm. "This is our win." Before Zabuza could reply the kunai that he was holding turned into a Naruto, grabbed his arm and wrapped his legs around his neck holding him in place. Zabuza was surprised, he didn't realise that the kunai was a clone. The five shuriken on the ground also changed into five Naruto clones holding kunai and jumping up towards Zabuza. There was no way for him to block all five. Zabuza used his right hand to burst the five clones then rip off the clone holding his left. All of those clones turned into smoke.

Zabuza sighed. "I got distracted and released the Justu."

"Wrong. You didn't release it. You were forced to release it." Kakashi turned his head to the side to see Naruto from the corner, "Naruto great plan. You guys have grown up. Do you understand Zabuza? The power of working in a team." Naruto grinned just before he fell face first into the dirt.

"NARUTO" he heard three pairs of feet running towards him just before he passed out.

Naruto opened his eyes to see another unfamiliar ceiling. Where was he now? His whole body was in pain and his left arm was in a cast. Sitting up Naruto looked around the room to see where he was. He did not recognise the room he was in but it seemed to be a typical Western residence. He got up and walked out of the room. He noticed that he was on the second story of the house and sought the stairs. As he walked down he realised that the pain in his body was fading. He reached the bottom of the stairs when he heard a voice call out to him. "Hey kid. You're up earlier than expected. You were only out for almost a day." Tazuna who was standing nearby, started walking towards Naruto. "You should stay and rest. You're body took a beating from Zabuza's attack. Oh but I guess you want to see your teammates. They're outside in the forest." Naruto realised that this must be Tazuna's house. For them to be here Zabuza must have been defeated. Naruto grinned realising that they had completed their first C-Rank mission even though it should have ranked higher.

"Thanks Old Man, but I do need to see Kakashi-sensei." Naruto walked out of the house and towards the forest where his team were. These trees in the forest were around 80 metres tall and it was about 50 metres to the lowest branch. Eventually Naruto found his team. Kakashi was standing upside down on a tree branch. Sakura was sitting on the lowest tree branch while Sasuke was on the ground looking up at them both.

"EEEEEHHH! HOW ARE YOU STANDING LIKE THAT KAKASHI-SENSEI?" Naruto screamed which startled his three teammates.

"Ohh… Naruto. You're awake. Good timing." Kakashi was the first to recover from the surprise. "This is training. You have to climb the tree without using your hands. Sakura has already shown that she can." Kakashi grabbed a kunai and threw it at Naruto's feet. "You try as well. Sakura explain everything to him. I need to go rest or else I may not recover in time." Kakashi fell off his branch doing a corkscrew in mid-air landing on the ground. Kakashi walked towards the house; Naruto could tell he was pushing himself so he kept to himself. Sakura also jumped down and walked towards Naruto.

"Hey… Sakura-chan. What does he mean without using your hands? Is that even possible?"

"You have to channel the right amount of chakra to your feet and use it to stick yourself to the tree. Too much chakra or too little chakra you will fall. This is about chakra control and we can become stronger because of it." Sakura saw that Naruto's face was blank showing that he didn't understand. She groaned "Just watch." Sakura channelled her chakra to her feet creating pressure on the grass. After a few seconds she ran towards the tree. Her first foot touched the tree and she continued to run but vertically up the tree. Naruto was astonished. He had seen ninja do something similar but to think it was basic chakra control. Sakura had reached the first branch again and sat there.

"That's amazing Sakura-chan." Naruto was genuinely amazed. Sasuke grumbled to himself. Naruto himself tried to channel chakra to his feet and ran towards to tree. His first foot planted onto the tree but created cracks underneath his foot. This broke the bark and Naruto fell backwards. Sasuke smiled to himself while Sakura laughed.

"Kakashi-sensei said to use the kunai to mark how high you went and to continue to try to beat your highest." Naruto looked to see Sasuke's mark and noticed it was only one fifth of the way to the first branch. Naruto laughed, even Sasuke was struggling at this. He thought that Sakura must be some kind of genius. But then he realised something

"Hey… Sakura-chan. This is training, right? So why don't we do it back at the village since we all can walk. I mean Zabuza was defeated and all, right?" Sakura and Sasuke shared a look. "Zabuza won?"

"No" Sasuke said. "Kakashi-sensei won."

"But then… What happenend?"

"Listen, this is what happened after you passed out."

X _Yesterday X_

"_Let him rest. So Zabuza, I need to end this quickly. I'll tell you that I don't fall for the same Jutsu twice. What will you do?" Both Jounin jumped back and their hands became blurs as they completed the seals for a Jutsu ""Water Dragon Bullet Jutsu"" Both of them cried out as waves form around them both creating dragons that destroyed the opponents dragon. The water turned into a massive waves shooting up in the air and in the surrounding area. The unconscious body of Naruto was getting swept away. That was until Sasuke grabbed him and threw him up a tree. When the water settled down the two Jounins could be seen pushing against the other with sword and kunai in hand. _

_The two started doing the same movements when Kakashi said "…reading them." This was completely random. "…freaky eye is pissing me off, right?" Kakashi's words were clearly getting to Zabuza._

"_Heh… All you're doing is copying me."_

""_You can't beat me you monkey bastard."" Kakashi and Zabuza spoke in unison. _

"_DAMN YOU! I'll make it so you can never open that mouth again." Zabuza was getting agitated. His opponent was reading his mind._

"_Great Waterfall Technique." Kakashi just used the move that Zabuza was planning. He couldn't figure out what was happening. A stream of circling water charged straight at the stationary Zabuza sending him flying into the trees. Kakashi threw two kunai towards Zabuza sticking him against the tree._

"_It's over." Kakashi proclaimed his victory as he stood on the tree branch above Zabuza. _

"_How…? Can you see the future?" Zabuza asked in fear._

"_Yeah… you are going to die." Just as Kakashi was about to make his move when two acupuncture needles flew towards the stationary Zabuza. These needles lodged in his neck causing him to collapse. _

"_Hehe… You're right he's dead." In the adjacent tree stood a child with a mask that had the symbol of the Hidden Mist village on it. The child has long black hair tied up in a bun with two bangs and was wearing a green haori with white trimmings. The child looked a little bit older than the three Genin but because of the outfit the gender could not be determined. Kakashi jumped down and placed his hand on Zabuza's neck to check his pulse. The look on Kakashi's face told them that Zabuza was dead. "Thank you very much. I have been searching for the opportunity to kill Zabuza for a long time."_

"_That mask… You're a Hidden Mist Hunter-Nin." Kakashi observed from the child. _

"_Impressive you are correct." Upon seeing Sakura's and Sasuke's confused faces the child continued "My duty is to hunt down Missing-Nins. I'm a member of the Hidden Mist's Hunter-Nin team." Kakashi got up and walked towards his group. As he did this the Hunter-Nin disappeared but then reappeared beside the corpse of Zabuza. Picking it up the child said "Your battle is now over, and I must dispose of this body. Since it seems to be a body with many secrets. Farewell." The child offered one last word before disappearing with the corpse._

_As soon as the child left Kakashi let out a sigh of relief and covered his left eye with his forehead protector again. "Now we have to get Tazuna-san back to his house. Let's go."_

"_HAHA. SUPER THANKS GUYS." Tazuna was relieved. His life was no longer in danger. "Come over to my house and relax for a while." Just before Tazuna finished Kakashi had collapsed._

X Now X

"We carried you both back and you both slept until today." Sasuke finished his recount, but this confused Naruto even more.

"So Kakashi didn't kill no eyebrows but this Hunter-Nin did. So is no eyebrows dead or not?"

"No he's not."

"But you said he is."

"No we said that the Hunter-Nin killed him with acupuncture needles."

"Yes, so he's dead."

"No"

"JUST TELL ME ALREADY. WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?" Naruto yelled at the top of his lungs.

"When Kakashi-sensei woke up we talked and realised that something was suspicious. Acupuncture needles are a very inefficient way to kill someone. If an expert is using them they can cause a momentary death rather than an actual one. So we don't know if Zabuza is dead or not."

Naruto was still confused. "Why would a Hunter-Nin save him? Isn't it there job to kill him?"

"Yes, but what if it wasn't a Hunter-Nin. Hunter-Nin's would have disposed of the body there but this one took it away. So Zabuza may be alive, and we may have to fight him again. So what we need to do now is train to be able to protect Tazuna."

Naruto smiled. Their fight wasn't over. "Okay… Let's climb then."

X That evening X

It was the night of the first day of training and they were eating dinner at Tazuna's house. At the table sat Kakashi, the three Genin, Tazuna, Inari (Tazuna's grandchild), and Tsunami (Tazuna's daughter). Around halfway through the day Kakashi had gone to get Sakura and have her stay with Tazuna since she had already completed her training. Both Naruto and Sasuke were wolfing down food since they had been training all day. Somehow it had become an eating competition between the two of them. Even though it was a competition Naruto was having trouble eating with one hand.

"Wow. This is super fun. It has been a long time since we ate with so many people." Tazuna was smiling. His table hadn't been this lively in a while.

""MORE"" Both Naruto and Sasuke had simultaneously asked for more food, and straight after they simultaneously threw up onto the floor.

"IF YOU'RE GOING TO THROW UP STOP EATING!" Sakura screamed at the two.

"No I must eat" Sasuke replied.

"Yeah, we have to no matter what. Because we have to become stronger." This earned them a nod from Kakashi. Dinner quickly finished up soon after. Sakura had gotten up and walked towards a picture on the wall.

"Hey, why do you have a torn picture on the wall? Inari-kun was staring at this during diner. It seems like someone purposely removed the person from the picture." The three residence of the house shared a look. This topic seemed taboo.

"It's my husband." Tsunami said.

"And the man who was known as the hero of the village." Tazuna finished. At those words Inari got up and walked out of the room. "Inari, where are you going?"

"INARI" Tsunami yelled after the boy. The sound of him going up the stairs could be heard. "Father! I have told you not to talk about that man in front of Inari!" Naruto got up.

"Where are you going Naruto?" Sakura asked.

"I think I dropped one of my shuriken upstairs when I woke up. I'll go get it." Naruto left the room and walked up the stairs. Knocking on Inari's rooms door Naruto asked "Can I come in?"

"What do you want?" The voice of the boy reached through the door. It was clear that he was crying.

"I would like to talk with you. I know that downstairs the old man is telling the story about that hero of the village, but I'd rather talk with you." Naruto took a deep breath before he continued. This was something that he had been thinking about ever since he found out about Kurama inside of him. "There is no such thing as a Hero, but they do exist." Inari opened the door and stared at the blond.

"That doesn't make any sense."

"But it does. I will tell you but first why was he called a hero?" Inari left the door open and walked back into the room. Naruto accepted this silent invitation and walked in after Inari. Closing the door behind him Naruto sat on the floor waiting for Inari to start.

"I was a coward. And that man saved my life and adopted me. He is my father who the whole village love and respected. But on one day the village desperately needed help and only my father was willing to risk his life to save the village."

XXX

_A man barged into the room while Inari and his adopted father Kaiza sat around the table. "Terrible new Kaiza, this rain is overflowing the dams! D-Area is going to be flooded!"_

"_WHAT!" Kaiza reacted. This was bad. The village was in danger because of the rain._

"_DAD" Inari also knew that this was bad._

_Kaiza quickly jumped into action. "Inari bring me a rope."_

"_Yeah." Inari quickly found and grabbed a rope. He ran back to his father and gave it to him. They both ran as fast as they could to the dam. The dam had been forced open by the heavy torrent of water caused by the rain._

"_This is bad. We'll have to tie a rope to the gate and pull it closed." One of the villagers stated._

_Another villager replied with "ARE YOU CRAZY? How can we tie a rope to it? If you enter the rapids you will die."_

"_But if we don't do something D-Area will be wiped out." The first villager was thinking. "What else…" _

_He was interrupted by Kaiza's interjection. "I'll do it." The cries from the village were pleading him to stop._

"_Don't do it" "This is too much even for you" "You'll die"_

_Inari joined in with the interjections screaming out "DAD"_

_But Kaiza just smiled as he pat Inari's hat. "Don't worry your Dad is invincible, because your Dad loves this city where you are from. Kaiza tied the rope to himself and dove straight into the water. He swam through the rapids and made it to the dam._

"_YES! He did it! Everyone pull!" One of the villages yelled out._

_XXX_

"From then he was known as the hero of the village and because of that when Gatou arrived he had him executed to show the village who was in charge." Inari started crying halfway through the story and tears were streaming down his face. Naruto was nodding throughout the story; he completely understood why he was the hero. "What kind of hero dies when he is needed the most?"

"Didn't you hear what I said before? There are no such things as heroes. Your dad was an honourable man who cared greatly for the village. So he worked hard to protect it. That does not make him a hero, it makes him a man. Did your Dad call himself a hero? I don't think he did. It was the village who called him a hero. It is the same for my village. We have a lot of heroes from different times but they themselves did not call themselves heroes. This is why there are no heroes because they are just people. People are people, but others see them as something else which is why they are heroes."

"But, he died when the village needed him. He couldn't even protect what he loved! How is that a hero?" Inari was getting angry.

"Yes… He failed." This caused Inari's face to drop. Naruto just smiled. "But you're still alive aren't you. If something is precious to you, even if you lose your life, with your own two hands you must protect it. OKAY…" Naruto stood up. "I need to go back and train. See ya." Naruto walked out of the room. Inari just sat their gobsmacked. He thought back to what his father taught him.

"_If something is precious to you, even if you lose your life, with your own two hands you must protect it._"

Naruto just said the same thing.

X The fourth night of training X

"Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaa" Naruto yelled as he once again tried to climb the tree. It was almost pitch black now. If it wasn't for the light of the village Naruto would not be able to see. Naruto slowed down and used the kunai in his right hand to mark the spot on the tree that he reached. It was at the same point as last time. Naruto fell backwards to the ground again. Naruto made sure that he landed on his feet so that he wouldn't further injure his left arm. He no longer felt any pain from it but he still didn't want to use it just in case. Naruto then realised something that he forgot.

'Yo… Kurama. You there? Can we still talk or am I not angry enough?'

'**What do you want this time kid? Even demon foxes need to sleep. It doesn't help that you scream like a girl every time you climb a tree. But no you don't have to be as angry anymore. You are getting stronger so your hate for your own village should be enough for us to talk.**'

'Hey, I don't scream like a girl… I am trying hard to get up this tree. I have a question. If you want me dead, why do you keep warning me when danger approaches?'

Kurama choked on his words. '**Well… Um… If you die then I'll also die. But then I'll respawn after five or so years. But that'd be a hassle so will you please get angry enough to let me break out?**'

'Oh… So that's what you want. You still hate me then.'

'**I don't hate you. I just hate this seal and hate the fact that I'm trapped in a girl for the third time.**'

'Third time… You've been trapped be… HEY I'M NOT A GIRL.' Laughter could be heard from Kurama. 'You've been sealed in someone before. Did you hate them that much as well?'

'**Yes I have hated my two previous jailors a lot more than I have hated you, because unlike you they don't know the pain of not having a name. Both of them called me Nine Tails** **or Demon Fox, yet you asked me for my name. You are the second human to care about my name. The first human was my father who named me.**'

'Oh… Was your father a good man?'

'**Haha… That's a story for another time. I won't tell you about him. Oh… but you might like to know that the two women I was sealed in before were both Uzumaki's as well. Their blood seems especially good for sealing us ****Tailed Beasts**.'

'Ehh… Both were Uzumaki's? But I'm the only Uzumaki I know.'

'**You are the last Uzumaki in your village. The others are dead or have left at a previously.**'

'Hmmm… Hey Kurama. Were these two also ninja?'

'**Yes why?**'

'Then help me with my training.'

'**NO! NO WAY! Let me sleep.**'

'Kurama. If you don't help I'll keep singing to myself.'

'**Sing? To yourself? You wouldn't dare.**'

'Lalala LAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!'

'**DON'T FORGET I AM A DEMON FOX WHO REALLY WANTS TO DESTROY YOUR VILLAGE. STOP SINGING. STOP SINGING, please.**'

'BADUMDUMDUMBADUMDUMDUM.'

'**OKAY OKAY. I'll help. Now will you please stop?**'

'YAY. Let's practise.'

XXX

'**Once more. You're almost there.**' Naruto once again channelled his chakra to his feet and charged up the tree. Running past all his previous kunai marks he made it to the lowest branch on the tree. '**See you did it. Well done**.' Naruto sat down as he smiled to himself.

'I did it. Thanks Kurama.' Naruto then closed his eyes from exhaustion and passed out.

'**KID WAKE UP. IF YOU SLEEP HERE…**' Kurama couldn't finish his sentence because Naruto started falling off the branch. A sleeping Naruto couldn't stop his fall. '**Shit. Um… He's still channelling chakra to his feet, maybe if I…**' Kurama then flooded his own chakra to Naruto's feet causing two hands made out of his chakra appear. These hands were red and bubbly but they shot out towards the tree branch and grabbed it just before Naruto's head crashed into the ground. Slowly releasing more chakra, Kurama gently places Naruto onto the ground. As soon as Naruto was safe all the chakra dispearsed and Kurama was panting. '**That was harder than I thought. This damn seal didn't make me helping him easy. Damn Fourth.**' Kurama also passed out.

_Kurama was standing above a forest, he lived alone in this desolate place and wanted to remain that way but today he had a human visitor. The visitor was a tall and fit man with waist length straight black hair. He wore typical ninja gear for the time which was a dark blue shirt and pants covered by red armour. Along his back the man carried a giant war fan which was attached to his back. However the most notable feature of this man was his deep red eyes. He was a member of the Uchiha clan who wielded the Sharingan._

'_**Who dares approach me?**__' Kurama became defensive of his territory._

'_My name is Madara Uchiha and I come for you Nine Tails. You are merely a momentary life, a temporary existence of coalesced energy. Energy that once was a single ultimate form.' Kurama's face began to twist in hatred. It didn't take long for him to hate this Madara Uchiha. 'An unstable force, lacking intelligence or sapience, you require a guide to show you purpose. That guide is the Uchiha. The Tailed Beasts are but slaves to those with blessed eyes.' Madara's eyes changed shape as he yelled. 'OBEY!'_

_The world around Kurama morphed. The place he was changed from the forest to the remanent of a battlefield. And the person in front of him changed to a heavily injured man with similar armour to Madara. This man had blood all over his body; some was his own but not all. This man was struggling to approach Kurama but he had no choice. Kurama recognised this man as Hashirama Senju, also known as The First Hokage of the Hidden Leaf Village. _

'_Nine Tails. Your power is too great. I cannot let you roam free any longer. I will have you sealed and there you shall remain.' _

_Kurama could not resist as the world changed once again. This time the world was bright and colourful but Kurama was unable to move. He was being held down by a seal. This was inside his first jailor who stood in front of him. Her name was Mito Uzumaki, the wife of The First Hokage. She had long, bright-red hair that was tied in buns and large, pupiless eyes. She wore an elaborate, high-collared white kimono. _

'_If you use your power, only hatred will come from it. Stay tranquil deep inside of me.' Not once did Kurama's first jailor talk to him as a person, nor did she ever ask for his name. _

_The world once again changed but he remained inside someone. This time is was his second jailor. She had a slender, but feminine build, fair skin, violet eyes, and crimson hair similar to Mito's. She wore a high-collared, white sleeveless blouse under a long, loose-fitting green girl was Kushina Uzumaki, the wife of the Fourth Hokage. Kurama was unsure whether she was the mother to Naruto or not, but there was a high chance since their faces shared the same shape._

'_Neither of us have any sort of luck, do we? You keep the world at bay, I keep you at bay.' Not once did Kurama's second jailor talk to him as a person, nor did she ever ask for his name. _

_At this time Kurama was sure that humans in general hated his existence and that no human will ever look upon him like his father did. That was until he first spoke to Naruto Uzumaki his third jailor. During their first conversation Naruto had talked to him as a person and asked him for his name._

'_**What made this one so special?**__'_

* * *

**A/N**

And that is chapter two of Tale of the Broken Fox. Unfortunately there wasn't much that could be changed form Canon. The final fight next chapter wrapping up the Land of Waves Arc, look forward to a good fight. Please review, I do enjoy reading peoples opinions no matter what they are. Also check out Juicy Phoenician 's Fairy Tail X Sailor Moon "Fairy of the Moon" it is a good read. Until next time.

Signing out Comfy Cushion


	3. The Pain of Simply Living

**_Written by _****_Comfy Cushion_** and betaed by **_Juicy Phoenician_** and Dr. Fabulous.

* * *

Naruto was sleeping in the middle of the forest after his night of training. He had finally reached the lowest branch of the tree after the first night. This exhaustion made him collapse while up the tree almost causing him to fall to his death. If it wasn't for Kurama's flooding his chakra through the seal Naruto would be dead. However as a result Kurama was also unconscious and in worse condition then Naruto who had almost fully recovered his chakra. Neither of them were aware of the person approaching him. The girl looked to be around the same age as Naruto, she had long flowing black hair and dark brown eyes. She wore a pink, sleeveless kimono which had swirls all over it, and a white obi. She got closer to the unconscious Naruto until she was almost on top of him. As soon as she saw the forehead protector on Naruto her face cringed. She recognised that mark, and she also recognised the boy.

"You'll catch a cold sleeping in a place like this." She grabbed his shoulders and shook him awake.

"Huh? Who are you?" Naruto got up rubbing his eye. When he finally focused he saw the cute girl in front of him causing him to stand upright. The girl also stood back up.

"I'm looking for a plant. Can you help me?" The girl smiled at the now awake Naruto.

"Um… sure. What plant is it?" Naruto said as he stood up. He was feeling stiff after sleeping on the ground so he stretched out.

"It's a plant used for medicine. It's a small shrub with pointed leaves. They grow in large batches so it shouldn't be too hard to find. Thank you." She smiled at him again, causing Naruto to blush. Naruto and the girl started walking around looking for the plant.

Naruto had to break the silence "The person this medicine is for… Will they be okay?"

The girl beamed "Yes, he'll be one hundred per cent okay tomorrow. This medicine is to make sure that happens." Naruto smiled for the person as he continued to look. Finally Naruto saw the batch that she was talking about.

"Is this the plant you want?" Naruto said as he crouched on the batch. The girl smiled and nodded at Naruto. She walked forward and crouched down so shed be able to collect the plant. "This plant is medicine?" Naruto also crouched down so he wasn't the only one standing.

"Thanks for helping out."

"You sure are working early lady."

The girl looked up from her plant collecting. "You too. What are you doing here at this time of the morning?"

Naruto's face became serious. "Training!" This earned a surprise look from the girl.

"You… that forehead protector… Could you be a ninja?"

Naruto jumped with excitement "You noticed?! Yeah I'm a ninja!"

The girl smiled "Wow you're incredible." Naruto rubbed his nose in embarrassment. "Why are you training?"

"Because I want to become stonger!" Naruto grinned.

The girl looked curiously "Hmm…But you already look plenty strong."

Naruto was bustling with excitement "No, No! I want to be even stronger."

The girl's face became serious. "Why… is that?"

"Hehe… I'm not even sure at the moment. But for now I have something that I need to prove to someone. So I need to get stronger."

"Is that for someone else or for yourself?" The girl asked. Naruto was confused by this question, which made the girl laugh. Naruto just sat in silence. He couldn't figure out why she was laughing. "Do you have someone who is important to you?" The girl looked down as if she was remembering something. When she finally looked up she saw Naruto waiting for her to continue. "When a person has something important to protect… That's when they can truly become strong."

This earned a smile from Naruto "Yeah! I understand that very well." The girl had long finished collecting her plants, so she got up and started walking away.

'**YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAWN.**'

"You will become strong. Let's meet again somewhere. What was your name?"

'SHUT UP KURAMA I'M TALKING TO SOMEONE!'

"Naruto Uzumaki and yours?"

'**I don't care brat.**'

"Haku… see you." The girl named Haku walked away.

'**Hey kid… Who was that?**'

'Oh… She was a girl who was looking for some medical shrub or something. I helped her find it. Her name was Haku-chan.'

'**Hey Naruto. You know that I can see out of you, right? The way it works is that if I am awake then I can see even if you are asleep or unconscious. That girl who you were talking too felt exactly like that Hunter-Nin who took Zabuza away. You just helped find the medicine that will revive your strongest enemy so far.**' Naruto's jaw just hit the ground.

"Close your mouth you look like a retard." Sasuke had just arrived and saw the insides of Naruto's mouth."

XXX

Naruto and Sasuke practiced all day. And by the end of it they had both mastered tree climbing to a very proficient level. They could make it to the top of the tree but they still needed a running start which was unlike what their Jounin-sensei, who was able to climb the tree while injured and without running. Naruto had told Sasuke the tips that Kurama had told him last night so they both would get to the top easier. Naruto and Sasuke had walked back into the house, Naruto was leaning on Sasuke because he couldn't stand alone.

"Oh, you guys are finally back." Tazuna was the first to respond to their arrival "What's this? You guys look super dirty and warn out."

"Hehe. Both of us…" Naruto puffed. He was exhausted. "…made it to the top."

"All right." Kakashi nodded approvingly at the two. "Naruto. Sasuke. Starting tomorrow you two will also help protect Tazunasan."

""OKAY.""

"Kakashi-sensei, I need to talk with you." Naruto had to speak.

Kakashi sat up in surprise "Oh? What about?"

"I know for a fact that Zabuza is alive and there is a high chance that they will attack us today or tomorrow." Everyone in the room went silent, and they all stared at Naruto. Kakashi stared curiously at Naruto. "I met someone earlier today that was looking for medicine. She was the Hunter-Nin who took Zabuza away after the battle."

Tick marks appeared on Sakura's head and fist as she walked towards the barely standing Naruto. As she hit him in the head she said "YOU WEREN'T EVEN AWAKE! DON'T TRY TO SCARE US LIKE THIS!" Naruto collapsed as Sasuke had backed off. "The village is in a bad position Naruto, jokes like this aren't funny." Unfortunately for Naruto, Sakura had seen the troubled state that the village was in. She really wanted the bridge to be built so that the people could be happy again.

"But Sakura-chan…" Naruto pleaded as he dragged himself up using the wall.

"Naruto. Are you sure that this information is accurate?" Kakashi asked. He was curious as to who or what Naruto's source was.

"Yes. Zabuza will be back at full strength tomorrow and he probably won't want to waste time. We all need to be ready."

Sasuke who had been standing quietly couldn't help but comment. "Was it that girl who you were with in the morning? Was she that Hunter-Nin?" At this Naruto looked towards Sasuke and nodded. "Did she say who she was? You were asleep at the time so you shouldn't know how she or he looks. So the only possibility is that if she told you, but why would she do that and leave you alive? It doesn't make any sense. So who was your source?" Kakashi nodded in acknowledgement, Sasuke's point was valid.

Naruto's face cringed, he didn't want to tell anyone about Kurama but it doesn't look like he has a choice. His duty as a ninja must be prioritised over his feelings. '**Hey kid. Are you going to tell him that we can talk? He may treat you worse because of it. It doesn't matter whether they believe you or not, so just leave it be.**'

'I need this to tell him. At least Kakashi-sensei should know since I am his Genin.'

Naruto looked at Kakashi, "I need to talk with you in private." Kakashi raised his eyebrow.

"Why would you need to do that? If it has to do with our mission then we all should know." Everyone in the room was staring intensely at Naruto. Naruto stood their speechless. He didn't want the others to know about Kurama but he had no reason as to why he could speak to Kakashi alone.

'**Hey kid. I'll help. Say these words. Obito Uchiha, Kannabi Bridge.**'

"Kakashi-sensei this is important. Obito Uchiha, Kannabi Bridge." Kakashi's widened his visible eye in shock; he didn't expect Naruto to know that name. Sasuke's head also perked up upon hearing the unfamiliar Uchiha name. Sakura just stood there confused, she had no idea what was going on.

"Hmmm… Follow me." Kakashi got up from the table he sat at and walked out of the house. Naruto got up and followed his Jounin-sensei. He continued into the forest. Kakashi continued to walk up a tree and stopped at the first branch where he waited for Naruto to join him. Naruto climbed up with his running start and joined Kakashi. "So… talk. How do you know this?"

Naruto tensed up. He was about to give Kakashi a reason to call him a monster like the rest of the village. "I can talk with the Nine Tails within me. He told me to say those words to get you to follow me. It was also him that told me who the girl I met was. That's how I know that Zabuza is alive."

Kakashi stood there in silence. Suddenly Kakashi smiled at Naruto. "Okay. If you trust him enough to say that then I guess we'll have to prepare. But I do have to ask, is the seal weakening?"

Naruto shook his head. "The Fourth Hokage made the seal this way. The stronger I get the more I can talk to Kurama and use his chakra."

Kakashi got confused. He didn't know what a Kurama was. "Kurama?"

"Oh… That's the Nine Tails' name."

"It has a name?"

"Yes"

"…"

"…"

The silence was deafening. Kakashi hadn't considered the Nine Tails as a person, and Naruto hadn't considered Kurama as a monster. Kakashi had to take the leadership role and break the silence.

"Okay, let me clarify a few things. The Nine Tails, Kurama who attacked the village twelve years ago can speak to you, and told you that the girl who you met was Zabuza's partner."

"Yes. He also told me when the Hidden Mist Chunin and Zabuza were about to attack."

"Hmmm… I didn't think that Minato-sensei wanted you to tame the fox. You are not meant to be its jailor, but its master. Since the Nine Tails is helping you does that mean it doesn't want you dead?"

"He doesn't want me dead… But he does want to get out. No one would like being stuck in a boy for twelve years."

Kakashi placed his hand on his chin thinking "Fair point. Is there a chance for me to speak to him?"

'Is there?' Naruto asked Kurama.

'**Not yet. You are not strong enough yet.**'

"He says I'm not strong enough." Kakashi and Naruto remained in silence for a while. "Kakashi-sensei. I know that this thing caused that destruction of the village but he told me that he didn't want to and that there were circumstances behind that. He cannot tell me what they are though. As long as Kurama is within me I will not let him harm the village so don't worry. I am telling you because someone has to know. But I still want it to be kept a secret from Sasuke and Sakura-chan."

Kakashi just smiled. "It's a little late for that." Kakashi looked towards the ground where Sasuke could be seen. Naruto was panicking. "Sasuke. This is a SS-Rank secret in the village. You are not allowed to tell anyone who doesn't know and if you do it is punishable by death. Naruto is the only person in the village allowed to tell someone. Please remember that. As for tomorrow, Sasuke will stay behind to protect Tazuna-san's family while the rest of us go to the bridge where we will fight. I don't think Gatou will trust Zabuza after he failed once so they will probably send men to kidnap the family, so Sasuke your mission is equally as important as ours." Kakashi jumped down and walked back to the house. Naruto also jumped down and walked right past Sasuke. Naruto was picking at the cast on his left arm, ripping it off in irritation.

Sasuke was speechless. He followed them to find out who this Obito Uchiha was but found out that his teammate had the Nine Tailed Fox who attacked the village inside of him. Naruto was always alone and now Sasuke knew why. Naruto became the host for the Nine Tails and the rest of the village despised him for it. Sasuke had known that Naruto was alone for all of his life; it was common knowledge within the Academy. Sasuke always felt that he had a connection with Naruto for that reason, and he was pretty sure that Naruto felt the same. How was Sasuke meant to react to the fact that the person who he felt a deep connection with, housed the monster capable of destroying the village?

'This latent power that he has is ridiculously strong. Maybe I can kill HIM with it.' Sasuke clenched his fist in pure rage. 'No… I shouldn't think like that. My life was nothing compared to Naruto's. We both have to live off our hatred.' Sasuke took a deep breath and nodded to himself just before he walked back to the house. When he opened the door he could see that everyone, including Naruto, sitting at the table.

"It doesn't bother me. It doesn't change the fact that I'm stronger than you, Dead Last." Everyone except Naruto and Kakashi looked at Sasuke with a confused expression. To them this statement came out of nowhere. Naruto crossed his arms on the table and rested his head in them. Sakura just continued to sit in silence.

"Okay so that is the plan." Kakashi continued from where he left off. "I'm sorry to do this to you Tazuna-san but if you aren't there others might get dragged into it. The three of us will be at the bridge while Sasuke protects your family. We have to make sure we get there before Zabuza does or else your workers will be in danger. Is this understood?" The sound of everyone acknowledging Kakashi's words echoed throughout the room. The only peoples who didn't respond were Sasuke who wasn't there and Naruto who's head still lay in his arms. As soon as he heard the responses, Kakashi got up and left. He still needed to rest since he needed the energy for tomorrow. As he was about to leave the room he turned his head to look. Sakura was nervously twiddling her thumbs. This was the normal reaction for a Genin before a fight. Tsunami was begging her father to be careful tomorrow. This was also a fairly reaction for a family in danger. The unusual ones were the other two occupants of the room. Inari was lost in thought. Thinking about his past and not being concerned with the present is a very mature thing for a kid his age to be doing. The most unusual however was Naruto. He was smiling.

X The next day X

"EVERYONE GET OFF THIS BRIDGE NOW!" Kakashi yelled at the top of his lungs. "THIS PLACE IS GOING TO BECOME A BATTLEFIELD. IF YOU VALUE YOUR LIVES YOU WILL RUN NOW!" All workers who arrived early instantly dropped what they were doing and moved towards Tazuna. A ninja who was accompanying their head builder for protection was saying that there was about to be fight. No one in the right mind would stay. But they still couldn't shack off their work ethic so they waited for Tazuna's orders.

"Take the day off everyone. If I don't return to the village after today, don't bother coming in tomorrow. If the worst case scenario takes place today, I wish you all good luck and it's been a pleasure working with you all." The crowd nodded in salutation to Tazuna as they walked off the bridge. One man walked up to Tazuna.

"The boys are meeting up for drinks tomorrow night. I expect to see you there." The man shook Tazuna's hand and only let go when Tazuna agreed to go. "Stay alive, pal." That man was the last to leave the bridge. The bridge was still incomplete so there was only one way to get on and that path led to the village. His workers would all go and wait for Tazuna's safe arrival.

"They are good workers Tazuna-san." Kakashi stood motionless with his hands in the pockets of his vest. "They had more respect than a lot of ninja do."

"Yeah…" Tazuna agreed with a monotone voice. If this was his last day alive then that was a goodbye to his friends and co-workers. It didn't take long for him to readopt his positive mood. "So now we wait."

"No…" Kakashi walked in between Tazuna and the only way on the bridge. "Our guests are already here." Two figures appeared on the edge of the bridge, one was a tall and broad man, and the other was a child wearing a mask. Zabuza and the Hunter-Nin had appeared ready for battle.

"Yo, Kakashi. To think you reserved the bridge for us. You do care." Zabuza waved at the ninjas as he and his companion approached.

"It seems you are alive and well Zabuza. Was dying once not enough?" Ignoring the babble of the Jounin level ninjas, Naruto walked towards the two. He started to lift his right hand, until a hand appeared and grabbed his wrist. The masked ninja had jumped towards him at a blinding pace and grabbed him.

"Yo, Haku. Good to see the plant worked." The masked ninja released Naruto. All he was doing was waving before he intercepted. Naruto lifted both of his arms behind his head completely ignorant of the risk. The masked man raised his hand and held his mask lifting it off his face.

"When did you see this kid, Haku?" Zabuza asked the silent ninja. The mask was clear of her face which showed Naruto that it was indeed Haku. "Never mind, he will be your opponent. I'll deal with Kakashi." Zabuza walked past Haku and Naruto, who stood face to face in silence.

Of course the Academies Loudest Rookie had to break the silence. "There is no need for us to fight Haku. You work for a bad man, and there is no need for you to kill the old man." Haku looked deep into Naruto's eyes and could only see sincerity behind his words. This brought a smile upon her face.

"No need to fight? That's not true Naruto-san." The cold gaze looked straight back at Naruto, "Do you remember what we talked about yesterday; about having someone to protect? Well this is where I show you why we can be truly strong when fighting for someone important to you."

"Is that eyebrow-less guy really that important to you? Don't you have anyone else who is important? Maybe someone who doesn't take money from criminals." Naruto was pleading. He didn't want to fight against her, especially since he could tell. Her eyes, they were the same as his.

"I use to have people like that, who were very dear to me. They were my parents. I was born in a small country of mist. I was happy. My parents were very kind people. But when I grew up and begun to learn the ways of the world something happened."

"What happened?" Naruto was intent on listening, what could have possibly gone wrong?

Haku's face went sour as she spoke her next few words. "My father killed my mother, and then he tried to kill me." Naruto looked up in surprise. "My small country of mist had, had endless civil wars and those with Kekkei Genkai came to be hated." This term was foreign to Naruto.

"Kekkei Genkai."

"Bloodlines with special abilities. Because of these abilities, clans with such special abilities were used as weapons in countless battles. As a result, these blood clans were blamed for bringing misfortune and war to the country. After these wars, these clans had to hide the truth about their own blood for those whose secret was discovered, only death awaited. My mother was from one of these bloodlines. My father discovered this which is why he killed her, and before I had realised what I had done, I killed my own father. And at that time I realised that I was a person who is unwanted. I hate the village for their treatment of me just like you hate your country."

Naruto had listened to Haku intently so he could finally respond with the truth. "You are the same as me. I saw it in your eyes when we first met. Our situations are very similar. I also have something within me that killed my parents. My village hated me for it, isolated me, and left me truly alone. My parents died on the day of my birth so I had no one. I was truly unwanted within my village."

"We both know the pain. The pain of not having a dream, not being needed by anyone, the pain of simply living our wretched lives." Haku started looking down towards the ground as she remembered her hard life. Naruto also looked down and started thinking about his life. "We also both know that feeling of finally finding someone who understands us, and what we'd do for them."

_A tall ninja walked right past the child sitting in the street. Looking back over his shoulder he noticed something about the child. He completely turned around and crouched down speaking to the child._

"_Hehe… What an unfortunate child. A brat like you is not wanted by anyone. You will die with neither freedom nor dreams." To the surprise of the tall ninja the child just smiled._

"_You have the same eyes as me." The young innocent child had read the tall ninja. They both had hard lives. The tall ninja got up and started to walk away. Stopping and once again looking over his shoulder, he signalled for the child to follow. _

"_From today on, your blood is mine." The child quickly got up and ran after him. It didn't take long for the child to learn how to be a ninja from the tall man. She had remained by his side ever since._

"Yeah… I know that feeling when someone finally cared for you. For me it was my Academy teacher, Iruka-sensei. For you it was this eyebrow-less freak."

_A bloody Iruka lay with his back up against the tree. His body was injured to the point where moving would be difficult. Above him stood Mizuki, another Academy teacher, but this one had convinced Naruto to unknowingly steal an important scroll from the Hokage monument. Mizuki had put Iruka in this state while trying to get the scroll off Naruto who was running away from them both. Naruto could see the scene unfold from his hiding place, behind a nearby tree._

_Mizuki was talking about Naruto and the scroll "If you use that scroll you can do whatever you want. There's no way that Demon Fox wouldn't try to use the power. Unlike what you're assuming." _

"_Yeah…" Iruka looked down painfully. His body hurt all over, but he had to say what was on his mind. However that one word had hurt Naruto. He thought that Iruka was here to protect him not the scroll. But Iruka wasn't finished. "The Demon Fox would do that, but Naruto is different." Naruto twitched as he heard that. Iruka saw him and the Nine Tails as two different people while most of the village saw them both as one. "I've acknowledged him as one of my excellent students. He may not be the hardest worker and he's clumsy so nobody accepts him. He already knows what it is to feel pain in your heart. He isn't the Demon Fox anymore; he is a member of The Hidden Leaf Village. He's Naruto Uzumaki." Naruto could not stop crying. Iruka doesn't see Naruto as a bother or a monster, not even as a failure but as a person. Naruto went on to defeating Mizuki to save Iruka the first person who ever acknowledged him._

"It really is a shame." Naruto continued. "If we had met at another time then maybe we would have become good friends." Naruto put on his best smile as he stuck out his right hand. "No hard feelings?" Haku looked up in surprise, Naruto didn't know this but no one since her parents had someone wanted to touch her in a harmless way. Zabuza only saw her as a tool but she didn't mind, but here was a person who understood her but they had to fight.

"No hard feelings." A single tear rolled down her face as she placed the mask back on.

Zabuza and Kakashi hadn't moved since their students started talking. They both were equally interested in that conversation. "That child has a Kekkei Genkai. This may not end well." Kakashi said. The Kekkei Genkai's are dangerous to fight against if you are ignorant of their strength.

"Hey Kakashi. Wasn't there a third brat with you last time? Did he run away?"

"No. He's protecting someone. He'll be here soon."

X Meanwhile X

Tsunami was standing at the sink cleaning the dishes. Her father went off to a dangerous place while she had to remain at home under the protection of a ninja. A loud crashing sound came from the front. Tsunami jumped at the sound, she quickly turned to see two men walk in. The man on the right was tall and bulky. His defined muscles could be seen since he wore no shirt. His brown hair was organised into a typical samurai fashion making it clear what he was. The katana he held in his right hand made it even more obvious. There was a flower like spiral along his left arm from shoulder to wrist. He dressed in an unusual fashion as he wore the bottom half of a kimono with a bandage wrapping around his stomach. The one on the left was also a samurai, judging by the katana in his left hand. He was shorter and less bulky than his companion but looked equally as skilled. He wore a black beanie to cover the top of his white shoulder length hair. His grey hoodie and black pants emphasised he lack of colour on his person. The only colour to be seen was his red tattoos under his eyes and the blue hilted katana.

"Are you Tazuna's daughter? You're coming with us." Tsunami tried to back away but the sink was behind her so the smaller samurai grabbed her with ease. Tsunami tried to pull away but couldn't. The samurai was too strong. "Let's take her to the bridge, with her we can kill Tazuna." Tsunami was forced to walk out of the crashed door. Just before she left she turned her head to the nearby room and winked. The two samurai and Tsunami were gone and behind the door Inari was watching.

"They're gone." He said to the other occupant in the room. Tsunami was sitting on the other side of the room.

"_This is the plan." The black haired ninja who was going to protect them decided to make a plan to look after their safety. "I'll be keeping a lookout. I should be able to see any enemy approach. When they do, you both will hide in that room." Sasuke points at the closest room to the door. "They will probably break down the door on their way in; they will see me transformed to look like Tsunami-san. They will either take me to the bridge or try to kill me. Either way I'll be able to get the jump on them and win."_

"_Isn't that dangerous though? Aren't you risking your life?" Inari saw how this plan could backfire; he needed to know why people were willing to risk their lives for something._

"_Someone needs to do it. And nothing will happen if you sit around sulking. People die. Get over it." Sasuke was staring at Inari with cold eyes. Inari could tell important people of his had already died._

Steeling his resolve, Inari made his decision. "Hey, Mum. Don't you think it is about time we stood up to Gatou?"

XXX

Naruto and Haku leapt towards each other, both with a kunai in their right hand. Clashing in the middle it became a test of strength. They seemed to be equally strong. Suddenly Haku disappeared causing Naruto to stumble forward.

'**BEHIND YOU!**' Naruto reached down and pulled out three shuriken with his left hand as he spun. Seeing a blur appear in front of his, Naruto threw his three projectiles at it. Haku quickly ducked under the weapons and launched towards Naruto again. This time Haku was moving his left hand so fast that it blurred. '**Those are one handed seals. You need to back off. NOW!**' Naruto channelled chakra to his legs and jumped backwards before Haku could reach him or finish.

"Thousand Flying Water Needles of Death" The water along the bridge quickly rose and turned into needles. These shot towards Naruto who had regained his stance. Once again Naruto channelled chakra to his feet but this time he launched himself forward. Naruto dove straight into the needles but dodged them all. When he jumped back previously, a gap opened where he was standing giving him the chance to slip through. Continuing with the momentum Naruto clashed with Haku sending her flying.

"Urgh" Haku landed on her back but quickly spun around to her feet to see that her opponent was no longer in front of her. From the corner of her eye she saw a flash of orange forcing her to jump away from it. Getting a closer look she realised that it was just a jacket and that the blond had gotten behind her. Cursing herself for this mistake she quickly made hand signs for a jutsu. "Ice Dome."

A dome of ice appeared around the girl just before Naruto got close enough causing him to smash face first into the ice. '**Hey kid. This is the Kekkei Genkai that she was talking about. You aren't strong enough to break this ice. The only thing you can do is wait for her to bring it down.**' Naruto rubbed his face as he walked around the dome to pick up his jacket. Both Naruto and Haku couldn't say anything. They didn't trust their voice.

The other four occupiers of the bridge had watched their battle intensely. Sakura was watching in shock, she found out that Naruto had something special in him and that he was really strong in a short amount of time. She couldn't understand where this power came from. Tazuna was just standing there hoping that Naruto would win. However this battle took a completely different meaning for the Jounins. Both of their students were fighting against themselves more than the enemy. Both of them did not want to harm the other but they had no choice. Both of them had their duty as ninja.

"It's sad isn't it? For these children to have to fight each other." Kakashi sighed. This was the life of a ninja. It was a shame that Naruto had to fight such a fight so early on.

"Hmph… They are but tools needed to complete their mission. If either of them dies it just means that they weren't strong enough." Zabuza stopped watching their fight and stared at Kakashi, waiting for a response.

"Do you feel nothing for your partner? Or is she nothing but a tool for you?"

"Tools are tools. If one gets destroyed all you need to do is replace them." Kakashi's face filled with anger. This was the ninja way, but it wasn't the only way to live as a ninja.

"It is a shame that you see it that way. This is where our fight starts." Kakashi grabbed his forehead protector ready to unleash his borrowed power. As he did he couldn't help but remember the words that the original owner of the eye said to him.

"_Those who break the rules and codes of the ninja world are called trash. But those who don't take care of their comrades are lower than trash."_

Kakashi had almost completely uncovered his Sharingan when a yell could be heard from the forest. "THAT'S ENOUGH NINJA" The two Samurai walked out dragging Tsunami with them. Everyone stopped and looked towards the three. Haku brought down her Ice Dome.

"TSUNAMI." Tazuna screamed for what he thought was his daughter. He was about to run towards her when Sakura stepped in between.

"Hehe…" The smaller samurai spoke. "Now this is where you let us kill that old man or else his daughter will be the one to die."

"Idiots." Zabuza rolled his eyes at the samurai and looked back towards Kakashi. "Can we just start our fight? There is no point in wasting time." After hearing Zabuza speak, Kakashi had ignored the samurai and completely revealed his Sharingan.

"Yes let's begin. Sasuke you can deal with them." Kakashi had pulled out a kunai while Zabuza grabbed onto his sword. Mist appeared around the bridge as the two begun their fight.

"HEY STOP IGNORING US." The bigger of the two samurai was fuming. "DO YOU WANT US TO…" He was interrupted by an uppercut to his jaw raising him off the ground. Tsunami had punched him with hidden strength. The smaller samurai quickly drew his katana and arced it at the girls face but hit nothing but air. She disappeared in a puff of smoke and in her place was a shorter black haired ninja. Sasuke jumped up and whacked him in the face sending him to the ground. Both samurai were lying on the floor unconscious while Sasuke was untying the rope which he wrapped around his waist to carry it with him. Using that rope he tied up the two samurai and left them where they lay. Sasuke casually walked up and joined Naruto.

"Yo… What did I miss?" Sasuke was now standing next to Naruto and looking at the motionless Haku. "I see that you were right. The Hunter-Nin was lying to us."

"Please don't interfere Sasuke." Naruto's face was cold and hard. This was his fight and held a lot more meaning than just a protection mission. "It is important for me to fight her alone. Please go stand with Sakura and protect the old man. I need to do this alone."

Saskue was surprised though he didn't let it show. Why was Naruto asking to fight alone? They were a team and they both know that together they were stronger, but why does Naruto not care about the risk of fighting alone? This annoyed Sasuke. He would not be sitting this important fight out. "Tch, Dead Last thinking he can fight alone. That's very arrogant, are you worried about me or do you want to die here alone? We fight together and in the end I will protect you." Naruto just smiled in reply. Before anyone could react, Sasuke had disappeared. He reappeared behind the girl sending a kick to her back. The kick hit nothing but air as the girl appeared behind him. Using her kunai she swiped at Sasuke's back when Naruto appeared behind her kicking her away from Sasuke. Haku had barely blocked that attack and slid away from the two.

"You work well together." Haku had stopped sliding and started making hand signs. "Demonic Ice Mirrors" The mist that Zabuza created had littered the ground with water, and this water rose up surrounding Sasuke and Naruto. The floating water formed into mirrors made out of ice completely surrounding the two. There were big enough gaps in between for people to walk through but Haku walked into the closest mirror. Merging with the mirror Haku pulled out three senbon and held them in between her fingers. "I'm sorry Naruto-san, but this is the end." Before Naruto could respond five senbon had lodged into various parts of his body. These senbon had come out of nowhere and from all directions. Haku was no longer in the mirror Naruto was facing so he looked around to see Haku behind them.

"Fast" Sasuke couldn't help but comment. Her speed was unbelievable, Sasuke didn't even see the three senbon before they hit him. He saw a blur blast all around them. "We're in trouble Naruto."

X Meanwhile X

Zabuza leaped forward as soon as his mist was formed. He pulled the sword of his back and swung it at Kakashi. Jumping backwards, Kakashi pulled out a kunai and threw it towards Zabuza, who simply lifted his sword to cover his body. The sound of the kunai hitting the sword echoed through the mist. The mist started to get thicker as Zabuza once again leapt towards Kakashi. This time Kakashi jumped forward drawing his second kunai and used it to parry Zabuza's attack. Separating, the two leapt back and lost each other in the thick mist. They can no longer see in this thick mist.

"Haha." Zabuza's laugh echoed throughout the mist. "You overused your Sharingan, Kakashi. As long as I can't see it and you can't see me then your tricks won't work. This mist is the perfect battlefield against your eye." Zabuza continued to laugh.

Kakashi squinted his eyes to try to see where Zabuza was hiding. Feeling something Kakashi quickly spun around lifting his kunai to cover his torso. The sound of the kunai and the sword clashing could be heard. "You shouldn't be able to see either. This is the Silent Killing Technique, isn't it?"

Zabuza continued to laugh. "Well done. Just because I can't see doesn't mean I can't hear you." Zabuza bided his time. He was in no rush and Kakashi couldn't do anything in this mist. He heard the release of chakra from where Kakashi was; he was using a clone. Hearing one of them run, this was meant to be a trick; Kakashi must think that he would go after the loud sound, but Zabuza can hear breathing where the clone was formed. Zabuza thought that this must be the real one. Charging to where the breathing was, Zabuza swung his sword in an attempt to cut down the unsuspecting ninja. However, Kakashi had blocked the attack with his kunai. "Oh… You blocked that. Impressive. The clone was a waste though."

"Was it a waste?" Zabuza had let go of the sword with his left hand and pulled out his own kunai and shoved it into Kakashi. Surprise appeared on Kakashi's face as he disappeared in a puff of smoke. Zabuza was stunned; it was a Shadow Clone which creates an actual copy. Zabuza could hear the sound of birds behind him. He released the mist so he could see the attack that Kakashi was preparing. "Raikiri(Lightning Cutter)" Kakashi was holding onto his right wrist with his left hand, and in his right hand was lightning. The bird sound was coming from the lighting which had surrounded his hand. The mist was thinning fast as the two charged towards each other. This would be the final attack; they both could see that fact. Zabuza spared one last look towards the Genin battle before they clashed. He could see one silhouette of them on the floor with another silhouette standing with their back to the first. The standing one was facing the last silhouette, who was charging at an alarming pace to the second. The second would not be able to defend against this attack.

XXX

Naruto and Sasuke were struggling to stay standing with the numerous senbon that they had stuck in them. They had tried everything to break through: Shadow Clones, Henge into weapons, Brute Force, Fire Jutsu but nothing he did could get through the incredibly fast barrage of attacks that Haku provided. Sasuke had noticed that she was slowing down though. She must have been tired from her first fight Naruto. Sasuke quickly glanced at Naruto and noted that he had twice as many senbon stuck in him than he did. Their opponent was trying to incapacitate them rather than kill. This was their only advantage in this fight. The majority of Sasuke's wounds were in his legs making it incredibly hard for him to move.

"This is over. You cannot beat me." The masked ninja had stated coldly. "I don't want to kill you but if you keep trying I will have no choice."

Naruto was panting hard but managed to say "Haa… What happened… Haa… to your… Haa… resolve?" Taking a deep breath Naruto yelled. "DO YOU THINK WE CAN'T STILL FIGHT?"

Haku shocked back with realisation. "I apologise Naruto-san. I forgot that that we are the type to fight to the end for the ones we care about." Sasuke just stood up straight. He didn't know what the two had talked about before his arrival, but he knew it didn't matter. He said that he'd protect Naruto from this stronger opponent, and if he can't beat this opponent how can he defeat HIM. But this opponent was too fast, and Naruto will die if this keeps up. What can he do? He just needs to see her. See her attacks which are incredibly fast. If only he could get them.

Naruto looked towards his comrade to see that Sasuke's eyes changed. They changed from their usual black to a deep red with a black dot surrounded by two tomoe. Sasuke was using a Sharingan but he had his in both eyes. "Why do you have a Sharingan?" Naruto couldn't help but ask. The only one he had ever seen was Kakashi's but now Sasuke had two. Sasuke quickly dashed towards Naruto jumping in between him and the oncoming senbon. These senbon lodged through his arms but Haku didn't stop. She flew around from mirror to mirror and continued to throw senbon at Naruto. Sasuke continued to block or get hit by the senbon protecting Naruto. Naruto was trying to keep up but was lost in this battle of speed. Finally Haku had stopped and Sasuke was on one knee. Naruto looked at Sasuke and he was now full of senbon. Sasuke coughed up blood just before he fell forward.

"He could see my attacks. I didn't want to kill him but he was too dangerous." Haku told Naruto as if she was asking for forgiveness. Naruto just knelt down and felt around for Sasuke's pulse. He found that Sasuke was still alive and breathed a sigh of relief. Sasuke had both of his eyes open and was still watching Haku but he could no longer move.

'**WATCH OUT KID**.' "Move Naruto." Sasuke and Kurama issued their warnings at the same time but Naruto was frozen in place. Haku had thrown another senbon at Naruto which lodged itself in his neck.

"That was my last senbon. If you lay on the ground now I won't use my kunai on you." Haku had issued her last warning. Naruto continued to kneel. He was too injured to move and Haku knew this, but he still used all of his willpower to keep himself upright. He would not bend, because if he does he fails as a ninja. "Fine. I'm sorry for this Naruto-san.

'**Hey kid. You can't keep fighting unless you use my chakra. You aren't angry so you can only use it for 10 seconds and you will take a while to recover. Do you want to use it?**'

Haku dashed towards Naruto with her kunai in hand. Getting closer and closer Haku knew that she had no right to hold back. She had to kill him or else it would be an insult to him as a ninja. Tears formed in her eyes as she was almost on him. She swung her arm so the kunai would hit Naruto's neck. The kunai completed its swing but hit nothing but an orange blur. Suddenly a fist from above hit her in the back causing her to slam into the ground. Quickly getting up she looked around and saw Naruto covered with a layer of orange chakra that took its own form. Naruto's nails and teeth had grown to make him seem more like a beast. The chakra looks very similar to a fox from tail to ears, but Haku had no time to see, she quickly looked around for the closest mirror but when she turned around Naruto was already there. She wouldn't be fast enough to dodge.

A smile appeared on her lips and only four words escaped those lips. "Kill me. You've won." Naruto nodded and charged at Haku who stood motionless. This was her death and she couldn't stop it. Haku closed her eyes for this last moment.

KLANG. The sound of a metal being hit rang throughout the area. Haku quickly opened her eyes to see Zabuza's back. He had jumped in between the two and used his sword to block the attack.

"You alright Haku?" Zabuza coughed out blood when he finished this sentence. Zabuza's arm form his shoulder had been ripped off and blood continued to drip from that point. Haku was about to speak when an army of men could be heard walking onto the bridge.

"Oooh. You're getting your ass kicked how disappointing Zabuza." An old man was leading the group. He wore a business suit while the others looked ready for battle. This man was Gatou who hired Zabuza and the men behind were his mercenaries.

"Why are you here? And what's with all these men?" Zabuza had lodged his sword into the ground and used it as a walking stick. He leant on it so he wouldn't fall over from blood loss.

"The plan has changed. Well actually I had planned this from the very beginning. Zabuza I am going to kill you here. I never planned on paying you anything. Hiring a normal ninja from the village is expensive and they may betray me. So I get you Missing-Nins who are easy to take care of afterwards. I have the ninja battle each other and once they're weakened I kill them off with numbers. It doesn't cost me anything, good plan don't you think? The only problem in the plan was you Zabuza. The devil of the Hidden Mist? What a joke if you ask me. You're just a cute little baby devil." The crowd behind Gatou roared with laughter.

Zabuza looked back at Kakashi. "Sorry Kakashi, this fight is over. Now that I have no reason to go after Tazuna, I have no reason to fight you. Haku, this means you have no reason to kill those two. Live, Haku." Zabuza lifted up his sword and charged after Gatou who turned around and ran. Zabuza mowed down the mercenaries on the way. Even though Zabuza was slower and weaker because he only had one arm, he still managed to make it to Gatou and kill him.

"Don't look away. This is the end of a man who lived a difficult life." Naruto was standing next to Haku as they both watched Zabuza mow down a majority of the mercenaries.

Zabuza stood stationary with multiple swords sticking through him. Zabuza's life finally faded from his body but he remained standing. He stood with the strength of a ninja.

* * *

**A/N**

And done. The battle on the bridge is over, and yes Haku IS A GIRL. I know that he/she is a guy but he/she is a girl in mine. Well even in canon it never really got through to me that he/she was a guy, and while reading up on Haku I found a very interesting theory with evidence supporting the fact that Haku is a girl. BUT... It doesn't matter. She is a she. If you don't like it you can try to convince Dr. Fabulous that its a guy.

Please review. I do enjoy reading what people think. Whether its a compliment or some flame do tell me. ALSO check out "Fairy of the Moon" by Juicy. We will be uploading another chapter of that while he's away.

Signing out Comfy Cushion.


	4. I Don't Have That Luxury

**_Written by _****_Comfy Cushion_** and betaed by **_Juicy Phoenician_** and Dr. Fabulous.

* * *

It has been two weeks since the battle on the bridge which determined the fate of the Wave Country. Zabuza the Demon had been defeated by the Sharingan Kakashi, Gatou had been slain by the half dead Zabuza, and even in his last moment he refused to fall. Gatou had brought an army of mercenaries to kill everyone on the bridge but half of them were killed by the rampaging Zabuza. Of the other occupants on the bridge only Sakura could fight and she wouldn't be enough to defeat those men. They needed either a Jounin level ninja or enough people to fight. Luckily for the ninja, Inari had assembled his village and came to the defence of the bridge. This on top of the shadow clones created by Naruto and Kakashi sent the mercenaries running. Since then the bridge had been completed and a grave had been made for one of the village heroes, Zabuza Momichi, who killed the plague tormenting them. However, only the Leaf ninja, Haku, and Tazuna and his family knew what Zabuza had done for them. The ninja were about to leave the village now that their protection job had been completed. They had successfully completed an A-Rank mission, and killed an S-Rank Missing-Nin according to the Bingo Book. They all stood at the newly built bridge ready to depart, but there was still one more issue to address. Haku Yuki had no place to go. She was not recorded as a Missing-Nin but they couldn't just take her to the Leaf Village, but Naruto wouldn't just leave her alone. He finally had a friend who understands him more than anyone else. Kakashi had some serious thinking to do.

"Thanks to you, we've completed the bridge but this is super sad." Tazuna was the first to speak. This would be a final goodbye.

"Thank you for everything." Kakashi smiled underneath his mask. Leaving their employers after their first long mission is a monumental occasion for his three Genin. Not only did they complete their first A-Rank mission, but the mission could have been requested as an S-Rank since it had a heavy impact on the Wave country.

Surprisingly the next one to speak was Haku. She bowed slightly as she said "Thank you for your hospitality. Even though I was your enemy you treated me well." Haku was wearing the kimono that she wore when she first met Naruto. She carried her battle gear in her bag and that was her only other possession. She had abandoned the Hidden Mist mask after her defeat on the bridge.

"Haha." Tazuna rubbed the back of his head with his hand. "It's all in the past now. Where are you going to go now? Are you going to stay in the Leaf Village?"

Haku shook her head. "No, I can't do that. I have to find my own place to stay. I was technically never apart of the Mist Village so they shouldn't be after me, but they won't leave me alone because of my ability. I wouldn't want to cause the Leaf Village any harm." Naruto nodded his head in acknowledgement. Kaksahi smiled again, is seems he wasn't giving his Genin as much credit as he deserved.

"Why don't you stay here with us?" Tazuna offer made everyone else stare at him in shock. Only a week ago was this person trying to kill him and now he was offering her a place to live. He might just be crazy.

Haku shook her head. "I cannot do that to you. Now that Gatou is dead they will know that Zabuza was working for them, and they will come here to find me first. When they do, tell them that I fled after Zabuza died. This way your village will be safe." After a little more banter the group of ninja turned around and begun their journey home. Nothing happened for the first day of travel, but it was that night when Naruto and Sasuke had to talk. They both agreed to not speak about the fight with Haku until they had left for their journey to the Leaf Village, and now was that time.

They had booked three rooms at an inn, Sasuke and Naruto were in one, Haku and Sakura in another, and Kakashi had the last alone. Sakura had got to know Haku over their week of rest and was fine with staying with their past enemy. It was long past midnight and no life could be heard from the rest of the inn. Sasuke was sitting on the window with his back against the side, while Naruto sat cross legged on the other side of the room. The first one to speak would have to answer the others questions first so they were both reluctant to be the first. Talking about themselves was new to both of them as neither of them had someone to talk to in the past. On one end it was the forever alone failure of the academy who wants to make friends but the feeling wasn't mutual. The other end had the ace of the academy who was super popular and literally had girls all around him, but he didn't really care for those groupies, and didn't want any artificial friends who were only around him to be popular. Neither of them had a family. Neither of them had friends. Both of them were alone.

An unknown amount of time had passed when Sasuke decided that it was time to speak. "This is stupid. I'll go first, but you better answer my questions when it's my turn."

Naruto nodded his head. After waiting that long time, Naruto could barely hold back his questions. "I will. But where did you get your Sharingan? Is it something anyone can get? How do you get it?" Sasuke raised his hand to stop Naruto's onslaught of questions.

Taking a deep breath Sasuke answered. "I was born with it. No. You can't." This earned a confused look form Naruto, he was clearly asking why not. "Only members of the Uchiha clan can use the Sharingan, we are born with the ability and eventually unlock it. So it is impossible for anyone who is not an Uchiha to get one unless they take one from an Uchiha. I am the only person left in the village who can use this eye. That is except Kakashi-sensei, I don't know how he got his left eye but he is not an Uchiha."

Naruto sat back and thought. He knew that Sasuke was alone which means that his clan was no more. He also remembered what he said the day they met Kakashi. _"And I don't want to use the word dream but I have an ambition. That is to resurrect my clan and to kill a certain man." _Sasuke was the only person who was able to use the Sharingan because he is the only person left in his entire clan. But there was one more question for him to answer.

"Um… Sasuke. If you are the last of your clan, that means everyone else is dead, so did your parents pass away or were they killed?" Naruto knew the answer.

"They were killed." The person who Sasuke needed to kill must be the person responsible for the death of his clan. Sasuke was hesitant to continue. The information wasn't classified so Naruto could find out the facts elsewhere if he wanted, so Sasuke didn't really have anything to hide. Sasuke realised that what he wanted to know can only come from Naruto himself because of its importance to the village so he had to make this trade. "The person who killed my whole clan was my older brother Itachi Uchiha." Naruto was shocked at this but he remained silent for Sasuke to finish. "I got home one day to see that he had killed the rest of the clan. He told me that he did it to test his capacity. He also knew that the only person who was able to test his strength would be me so he kept me alive to fight him later on. He let me live for the purpose of hating him and using that hate to get strong enough to kill him. I am alone in my mission to kill him and that is why I don't care for all this little playing ninja stuff we do. I will get stronger to eventually KILL HIM!" Sasuke's face begun twisting with hatred but it was at its most with the last two words. Naruto remained sitting with his eyes closed. The completely passive look on Naruto's face was off-putting for Sasuke, he had just expressed his deep hatred for his brother and he wasn't even fazed. But Sasuke had no chance of guessing what was about to come out of Naruto's mouth.

Opening his eyes and gritting his teeth Naruto was trying to supress his voice. "You are nothing but a sorry excuse for a ninja." Sasuke almost fell out of the window when he noticed that Naruto's features had become more animal-like. His teeth had grown sharp and his eyes had changed from their normal blue and round to an orange with dark ellipses. "You say that your 'PURPOSE' is to kill a psychopathic ninja who managed to kill your whole clan, and you think that you can get there with hatred, but do you HONOSTLY think that your hate is making you stronger? When we fought against Haku, what helped you unlock your Sharingan? Huh? Was it your hate for her? Because it obviously wasn't that. It was you trying to protect me. You wouldn't have taken that attack otherwise. Get stronger and THEN worry about your brother, not the other way around moron. Your hatred is misplaced. You keep yourself away from others because you don't want them to interfere with your ability, so at the end of the day you have a place to return to. The Village Hidden in the Leaves is your home where people do care for you. I don't have that luxury. There are only two people in the village who care for me, while most of the others despise my existence. Even at the Academy no one liked the fact that I existed. If anyone has a reason to hate, it's me. Not only that, Kurama's existence is practically hatred reincarnate. He is stronger when I hate, so that means I get stronger when I hate. YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO TALK ABOUT HATE YOU LITTLE BITCH. COME BACK TO ME WHEN YOU FINALLY GROW A PAIR."

Sasuke was shocked. He did not expect this response. He had never thought that he would get told off like this. He was unable to move or speak due to the shock, which means he could not stop Naruto from disappearing in a twirl of leaves. Sasuke quickly looked out of the window to see Naruto walking away from the inn. Sasuke didn't know when Naruto had learned to Shunshin (Body Flicker) but right now it didn't matter. 'Who does he think he is?' Sasuke thought.

XXX

Naruto had returned sometime during that night, but their conversation didn't continue as Sasuke was already asleep. For the rest of the journey neither of them brought up the conversation, there was no reason to continue. Naruto had been talking to Haku for most of the journey and when he wasn't he was with Kurama. Kurama had also taught Naruto the Shunshin(Body Flicker) the same way his previous captor learned, but he now refused to teach him anything else. Naruto couldn't complain. He had learned a D-Rank technique before Sasuke had which made him happy. It also made him strong enough to talk to Kurama for an hour a day. This journey outside of the village was enjoyable because he knew that he was almost home where he would no longer be able to enjoy himself.

They were a few hours from Leaf Village when Haku finally decided to leave the group. She couldn't stay with them any longer but she was also very reluctant to leave. She was having fun throughout her journey, she wanted to stay with them for longer but it was not to be. She had already made her decision to live independently and alone. Haku stopped walking and faced the four ninja.

"This is where we depart. Thank you for letting me accompany you on your journey." Haku bowed slightly. She really wanted to stay with them but she knew that the Leaf Village wouldn't allow it.

"Baa.." Naruto was the first to speak. "It's not like this is goodbye forever." Sakura nodded at this while Sasuke just shrugged.

Kakashi waved his hands up in protest to her thanks. He didn't know what he did for thanks. "No need for thanks. We were just heading the same way. Find a place and settle down, but don't show anyone your Kekkei Genkai and you'll live to see us again."

Haku stopped bowing and smiled at the group. "I will find a place nearby and make a home there. When I have settled in properly please come and visit me." This was said to all four of them but Kakashi noticed that she was especially pleading Naruto.

"Of course we will." Naruto firm answer caused Kakashi to smile. "We are friends Haku, we will see each other." Haku nodded her head one last time as she turned around and jumped to the nearest tree.

"Goodbye. See you later." She said just before she leaped to the next tree, and continued jumping with no real direction. That is the fastest way for a ninja to travel but the Genin weren't able to travel like that yet. Naruto just stood there waving until she could no longer be seen. Before Naruto could react, Kakashi grabbed his shoulder and addressed his team.

"Okay. It will be late when we return so you three will be dismissed straight away." The three Genin were now listening intently for their orders. "I will go to the Hokage's Office and report to him about the results of our mission. I will also talk to him about Haku. Tomorrow will also be a day off for you guys so make sure you rest and recover for the day after where we will resume missions. You will also get paid for this mission then. Are we understood?" A cheer of recognition rang through the trees as Sakura and Naruto acknowledged Kakashi's words. Sasuke kept his usual look but smiled. Kakashi nodded at the three as he resumed walking. "Okay. Let's go."

XXX

Kakashi stood in a clearing which was often used for training. Three stumps were dug into the ground a short distance from him, and just past those were an abundance of trees. The sun was barely over these trees and it gave off a dazzling orange light that would simply awe anyone who would look at that sight. However Kakashi did not look at the trees. He continued to look down at a glassy dark-aqua blue coloured stone which had multiple names carved into its sides. He stood next to a memorial for those who have died in the line of duty. The glare of the orange light reflects off of the stone bathing Kakashi in a deep orange. He stood there for an unknown amount of time, which was when he started speaking to the stone.

"My team just got back from that C-Rank mission I mentioned last time. It turns out it should have been at least an A-Ranked because of a rather strong enemy. His name was Zabuza Momochi and he was a very strong opponent that anyone other than me would have struggled with. Remember that kid Naruto. It turns out he is more similar to you than I had originally thought. He used the Nine Tails chakra to defeat his enemy in order to protect his comrade. Thankfully he didn't have to kill her; I don't want any of my Genin to have to kill needlessly like we did. I don't know how to care for these kids. I'd much rather be completing dangerous S-rank mission in ANBU than deal with these kids problems, but I am getting attached. Hey Obito, if you were still alive… what would you say about me now? I guess you'd hate me though." Kakashi didn't look up from the memorial the whole time. As he finished he could hear someone approach him from behind. Normally Kakashi would jump forward and get in a battle stance; however he recognised a familiar voice just before he moved.

"So… they were right when they say you're always here." The Third Hokage stood beside Kakashi and looked down towards the memorial. He wore his typical Hokage robe and hat. "I asked Hayate-kun where you would be and he was right. Everyone from your generation knows that you are here. Is that because he was a part of your generation?" Hiruzen gestured towards a particular name, but he didn't have to. Kakashi knew who he meant.

"That is correct Hokage-sama. Obito was a friend to all of us. I was about to go see you to give my report."

"I know. I heard that you arrived so I waited. I was rather surprised when that messenger from the Wave arrived with enough money to pay for an A-Rank mission and a message from you. I sent word to Mist about the death of Zabuza, and they replied with his bounty. They also asked about the girl from the Yuki clan who was with him. I have yet to respond." Hiruzen looked up towards Kakashi. "I believe it's time for a quick debrief. I was told most of what happened by the messenger."

Kakashi looked up towards the Hokage and quickly recapped the events of his teams' battles. He started with the ambush, then their first meeting with Zabuza, and ended with the final battle on the bridge. When he finished Kakashi waited intently for Hiruzens response. He had to mention what happened to the Yuki girl but more importantly, Naruto was able to speak to and use the Nine Tails.

"Hmmm…" Hiruzen begun stroking his beard, this was interesting news indeed. "I guess we should just leave him be for now. I do believe that is what Minato wanted when he sealed the Nine Tails in him, but to think that they were able to talk. That seal he made is rather interesting. Only a Fuinjutsu (Sealing Techniques) expert would be able to make such a complicated seal. We both know how good your Sensei was at sealing jutsu." This earned a slight nod from Kakashi. After a brief gap of silence, Kakashi thought it was time to speak.

"I think it is time I leave. I wouldn't want you getting into one of your Will of Fire speeches."

"Hahaha" Hiruzen couldn't help but laugh. "There is no point in giving you one of those speeches now. You know very well about the Will of Fire in us with the Fourth Hokage being your teacher. But it is oddly appropriate. Do you know why this colour was chosen for this memorial?" Kakashi shook his head. "Because at this time the orange sun reflects off of this stone and directs the light orange light towards the village. Very symbolic." Kakashi sighed; the Third really enjoyed talking about the Will of Fire. "Maybe Obito-kun's will was placed inside Naruto. They are similar are they not?"

"Yes they are." Kakashi agreed. "More than I would like to be honest. He used the fox's chakra to protect his friends, which was more than what I could do."

"That wasn't your fault Kakashi."

"Yeah. Thank you Hokage-sama. Now if you'll excuse me, I think we should be back before the sun is completely gone." Kakashi disappeared in a swirl of leaves causing Hiruzen to laugh.

"Only he can show me such disrespect." He stopped laughing and looked down at the memorial, particularly at another name carved a while after Obito Uchiha's. Rin Nohara. "It is a shame, losing both of your original squad during the war. Kakashi a month ago you had no one important to you, but now. I just hope you can finally find peace in your life."

XXX

Naruto cracked open his eyes to see that the sun was not yet over the horizon. He had a rather good sleep last night, especially after that tiresome mission his team had completed. However it was no excuse to be wasting time. He forced himself out of bed and begun his normal daily ritual which consisted of cup ramen, quickly changing and rushing out to the training field where he would work on his ninja techniques. Quickly locking up when he left, Naruto jogged down to the training field as a warm up. As soon as he arrived he pulled out shurikens and begun throwing them at the multiple target lying around everywhere. He now had almost 100% accuracy from where he couldn't hit a few weeks ago, but he still had troubles at a further distance and when moving. Tenten had shown him multiple exercises to improve on these and he had been working hard.

Suddenly a kunai flew over his shoulder and lodged itself in the target he was aiming at. Naruto quickly channelled chakra to his feet and jumped away towards the nearest tree. A trail of blood dripped down his face. A Chuunin whom Naruto didn't know was walking towards the target. He looked to be in his 30s and had a very noticeable burn mark along his right cheek. It looked like a chakra burn. He wore the typical Chuunin get-up with a beanie covering his hair, as well as a katan slung over his shoulder. Behind him walked two more Chuunin with matching outfits. One had long blue hair which draped down to his waist, and the other was bold with a scar over his mouth. These were experienced Chuunin but what were they doing here.

"Oh… sorry. I didn't see you there you short bitch. I hope you didn't get hurt." The Chuunin who threw the kunai sounded very arrogant. He pulled out the kunai from the tree and walked back to his two friends.

Naruto looked into their eyes; they were filled with hatred and disgust. These were the people Naruto wanted to avoid, the type of people that hate him for being the foxes captor. Naruto just smiled. "Oh no worries. Because of the Nine Tails I heal much faster that you guys. I mean that is why you threw that. Because you hate me." The faces of the three cringed when Naruto mentioned the Nine Tails.

"You fucking brat. You are just a monster; we should kill you here to protect the village. We would be regarded as heroes." The man with the chakra burn spoke. It was clear that he was the leader of the trio. Normally these people wouldn't do anything to Naruto because of their fear of the Third Hokage, but something must have tipped them over the edge.

"Oh? Kill me. You think you can kill the Nine Tails with just the three of you? If I was the Nine Tails you'd all be dead now." Naruto knew that he shouldn't be provoking them, but he was tired of these types of people who judge him because of his captive.

"Hahahaha… not the Nine Tails? Of course you are. There's no way a brat like you could keep that monster captive. That thing probably killed you long ago and took your body. How else could you kill the Demon Zabuza? Fucking monster." The two behind him nodded in agreement.

"Why don't you try me? I'll show you how a brat like me can keep the Nine Tails captive." Naruto was angry; these guys refused to see logic and were looking for a fight. If that is what they wanted who was Naruto to stop them. He looked inside himself 'Kurama. Will you help me?'

'**Not this time brat. I hope they actually kill you this time.**'

Naruto grumbled a bit at this. He was about to fight three experienced Chuunins alone.

"Well then. I won't hold back." The leader smiled. He was going to enjoy this. He slung off his katana and handed it to one of his companions "You two don't need to help. I'll deal with him alone." Naruto smiled at this. He managed to fight Haku, one Chuunin should be a good fight. Naruto jumped down and held both his middle finger and pointer up on his left hand. This was a symbol used before a spar that he learned in the academy. This shocked the Chuunin a bit. He didn't expect to see the spar sign here. His experience forced him to follow suit so he made the same sign but with his right hand. This signified the start of the battle. "Here I come." The Chuunin leaped forward at an alarming speed. Naruto saw him standing at a distance then before he realised it a fist was launched towards his jaw. If this hit then Naruto's jaw would break. Naruto somersaulted backwards avoiding the blow. Instantly looking where the Chuunin should have been made Naruto realise the strength of his opponent; he wasn't there anymore. Naruto dived forward narrowly dodging a blow to the back of his head. This guy was way out of his league. He needed Kurama's help for a chance.

'Kurama?'

'**Not helping. Not interested either.**' A snoring sound could be heard from within Naruto's head.

'DON'T SLEEP NOW KURAMA. I NEED HELP HERE.' But the snoring continued. "DAMMIT" Naruto scream out as he spun around quickly raising both of his arms in front of his torso. His arms managed to block a roundhouse kick, which sent Naruto flying on impact. Naruto bounced along the ground for a bit until he crumpled into a messy heap.

"Are you done brat?" His opponent offered Naruto a chance to give up but Naruto ignored him and got onto all fours. When fighting Haku he realised that he fought better with this stance. It was probably because of Kurama's influence but Naruto didn't have time to think about that now. The Chuunin smiled just before he disappeared from Naruto's sight. Appearing directly behind him he swung a roundhouse kick at the blond. The kick hit nothing but air which sent him off balance, Naruto had jumped above the Chuunin and was grabbing onto his shoulders. Raising his hands the Chuunin intercepted a kick to his face by grabbing onto the foot. Naruto had let go of his shoulders and used his other foot to kick the Chuunins face. The Chuunin spun Naruto around making the kick miss completely.

"Hahaha… well done." The Chuunin laughed as he threw Naruto away. He didn't expect to have enjoyed the fight so much.

"Make the harmony sign now." An unfamiliar voice rang out from behind the two watching Chuunin. A tall and well-built man with high cheek-bones, incredibly thick eyebrows and black hair cut in a bowl style had arrived on the scene. Naruto instantly questioned his fashion sense when he saw the green jumpsuit, and orange striped leg warmers. He was obviously not your typical ninja as he wore his flak jacket unzipped and his Leaf headband on a red cloth around his waist like a belt.

"Hahaha… The Maito Gai was watching our little bout. I am honoured." The Chuunin walked towards Naruto making the same hand sign as he did before the battle but waited. Naruto made the same sign an interlocked his with the Chuunins. This was the harmony sign signifying the end of the battle. "Come on. Let's go." He signalled to his two companions and got them to follow.

"Why would you stop? He is a Jounin but he wouldn't interfere." One of his companions asked.

"Haha… you didn't see it did you?" When he got a confused look from his two companions he laughed again. "That kid stopped his punch from hitting my jaw when I spun him. The spar was his win. He's an interesting brat that one. I think we underestimated him."

The three Chuunins were out of sight when the unfamiliar person known as Gai decided to speak. "Yosh. You seem to be bathed in the flames of youth to win against him of all people." Gai changed his serious voice into an over energetic one. This made Naruto back off slightly. He probably would have run for the hills if he didn't know that he was Tenten's Jounin instructor.

Bowing slightly Naruto said "Thank you Gai-sensei. I don't think they would have left if you hadn't arrived."

Gai shook his head. "No need for thanks. I am a friend to all who bathe in the flames of youth. I am Maito Gai, the eternal rival of your sensei Kakashi Hatake. We are forever in competition and I will protect his students as if they were my own. Because this is a youthful promise." Gai placed his hand on his hip and leaned to his left side while raising the thumb on his right hand. This was Gai's 'good guy' pose. Naruto smacked his face with his hand. Did he look like that when he made promises? Was he really that cringe worthy? And did his teeth sparkle like Gai's did? Naruto made a mental note to practise how he promises before he makes another one.

"Oooh Gai-sensei. What an excellent display of youth!" A new voice appeared behind Naruto. Quickly turning around he saw Tenten's team of three. In the lead was the owner of the voice who looked like a younger version of Gai. Everything from the green jumpsuit to the orange stripped legwarmers, even the bowl cut and thick eyebrows were a match. The only differences were the lack of a flak jacket and bandages that covered his arms. From his description this one must be Rock Lee. Behind him was Tenten who wore her usual outfit. And behind her was another unfamiliar Genin, but from the process of elimination this one would be Neji Hyuuga. His long black hair that barely reached his lower back was neatly held together by his forehead protector which sat firmly on his forehead. His short sleeve, cream-coloured shirt had a high collar making it impossible to see his neck. He also had short dark brown pants with the usual ninja gear attached. Similarly to Lee he had bandages wrapped around his right arm and right leg. Were the bandages something Gai told them to wear? The most notable thing about him would be his white eyes. There was one person with those eyes in his class.

"YOSH!" Gai dropped his pose and somehow got even more energetic. "Now that you three are here it is time to train. Would you like to join us Naruto Uzumaki?"

Naruto was about to speak when the voice form before interrupted. "But Gai-sensei. We can't let him train with us. He will be our competition in the Chuunin exams. We can't let our enemy see our skills." Lee's protests were understandable but Naruto had no idea what this Chuunin exam was.

"Lee…" Gai walked towards his student. "YOU FOOL" He punched Lee in the face sending him airborne. Naruto just stood there dumbstruck. "Lee" Gai looked down in great sadness. It seemed to pain him to have to hit his own student.

"Sensei. I just…"

"You don't need to saw anymore, Lee."

"Sensei."

"Lee."

The two of them begun crying and hugged each other. Naruto just stood there, he didn't move at all. His brain couldn't process what was happening fast enough. If it weren't for Tenten's effort, Naruto would have been like that for the next few minutes.

"Welcome back. How did your mission go?" Tenten was clearly ignoring the two overdramatic members of her team.

"Um… yeah. It was good. It turns out it was an A-Rank mission and are they normally like that?" Naruto couldn't help but get distracted by the crying ninja.

"WHAAT! An A-Rank already? You haven't been a ninja for a month yet. And your team is fine? What was the mission like?" Tenten was surprised. Her team has yet to do a B-Rank mission, and a new Genin completed an A-Rank.

"Yeah we're all fine. It wasn't that hard considering Kakashi-sensei fought their Jounin, though we did help." Naruto shrugged off the fact that he called an A-Rank mission easy. Before Tenten could reply two palms were rammed into Naruto's side causing him to recoil. Before he could react another two were slammed into him. These two sent Naruto airborne.

"Hmmp. Is that all it takes to complete an A-Rank?" The silent until now Neji decided he had, had enough of Naruto. "Why would a loser like you lie about completing an A-Rank mission? Do you think that lying will make you not a loser? I'm sorry but that is not how the world works. The weak remain weak."

Naruto picked himself up with ease. He rubbed his side. "Argh. That hurt you know. If you wanted to fight just ask. I would be more than happy to kick your ass." Neji hesitated; he had got up far too easily. His gentle fist style does internal damage so it should of hurt him more. But Naruto was unfazed. "What? You scared?" Quickly regaining his composure Neji charged.

"That's enough." Serious Gai was back. He jumped in between the two Genin stopping any further action. "Neji. Attacking someone from behind is weak and pathetic. Kakashi's team did complete an A-Rank mission which they had to battle 4 ninja at different times. Kakashi himself dealt with two Chuunin level and one Jounin level ninja. While Naruto and Sasuke had to fight against the Jounin alone and defeated a Chuunin level Kekkei Genkai. They showed the power of their youth and completed their mission."

"Tch… So your Jounin did everything. That's not you completing the mission. You were just there." Neji relaxed slightly. "Lee let's start our sparing." Lee instantly got up and ran towards Neji and took his battle stance. "Byakugan" The veins around Neji's eyes bulged up making them visible beneath the skin. Lee charged at Neji who instantly parried and retaliated. This went back and forth for a while until they broke apart. Naruto was interested in watching the two of them but Tenten got to him first.

"Hey Naruto. Can you help me with moving targets?" Naruto knew exactly what she meant. Putting his hands together Naruto created 30 clones. Each of them grumbled as they began running away from Tenten who smiled a little too much for Naruto's liking.

Meanwhile, Lee had managed to kick Neji in the face because he didn't try to block. Neji deactivated his Byakugan as he lay flat on the ground. Lee and Gai ran up to him.

"Hey Neji. Are you alright?" Neji sat up and rubbed his face.

"Yeah sorry. I'm just surprised."

"Surprised by my attack. Yeah. I've finally surpassed Neji." Lee was dancing with excitement.

"Not you loser. The other one." Neji looked towards Naruto. "I closed off four of his chakra points before but they seem to be working fine now. Did he reopen them himself?" Neji shuddered a bit at the thought. It was impossible to reopen a closed chakra point, but Naruto somehow managed to. Naruto would stand more of a chance against him than most Genin causing Neji to feel a little intimidated. A loser like him should never be able to win, but he's the only one who can.

X One month later X

After a month of missions and training, there were major improvements in Team 7's battle ability. Sasuke had become much stronger and faster than before, Naruto's chakra control was almost at the level of an Academy student, and even Sakura was improving all-round. However Sakura could tell that she was being left behind by her two teammates. She had grown a severe inferiority complex over the past month, she didn't want to be left behind but in every single mission from the starts, she has done the least out of her team. So when Kakashi told the three of them about the Chuunin Selection Exams and handed them their applications, Sakura doubted herself even more. Was she really ready for this? Both Naruto and Sasuke were excited about this but she wasn't ready. She didn't want to, but she couldn't say it out loud. Sakura was so lost in thought that she didn't notice that Naruto was approaching, nor that she was alone with Sasuke. She finally made her resolve to follow them to the place so she can decide there what to do.

All three of them finished filling out their applications and walked towards the Academy where they had to hand in their forms. When they arrived there was a commotion taking place outside the room where they had to hand in their applications to be allowed to enter the exam. Two Genin stood in front of the door not letting anyone pass. Lee had confronted them and was standing off against them.

"What do we do?" Naruto quickly asked as they approached the assembly of Genin. "Should we make them move?"

"No need." Sakura answered. "This is the second floor. It's just a Genjutsu." This made Sasuke and Naruto look at her in surprise. "What you didn't notice?" She thought that if she noticed they should have.

"I see it now. You have better analytical ability and Genjutsu-know-how than the both of us, so of course you noticed it first." Sakura was shocked. Sasuke just complimented her on her skills.

"I still can't see it. You're amazing Sakura-chan." Even Naruto who was growing the most of the three complimented her. With this she finally realised that even though she was weaker than then the rest of her team they didn't see her as a liability. She couldn't let her team down like this. She finally decided to partake in this selection exam with her teammates. "Let's go then." The three of them just continued to walk ignoring the crowd. There was no point in wasting time here.

"Oh… so Sakura came too… Now we can properly take the exam." The trio had arrived at the required room and were greeted by their sensei outside. However his statement seemed a little off so Sakura couldn't help but ask.

"What do you mean?"

"The truth is that this test can only be taken by teams of three." The three of them became confused, why would Kakashi-sensei not tell them this. Sakura was troubled before but if she knew she had to it wouldn't have mattered.

"Huh? But you said taking the test was an individual choice. You lied to us?"

"If I told the truth, Naruto or Sasuke would have pressured you to take the exam. Even if you didn't want to, if Sasuke asked you, you would even though it wasn't in your heart. For the sake of Sasuke and… well… Naruto too."

"So if only Sasuke-kun and Naruto had shown up?"

"The exam would have ended here; they would not get any further. But you came of your own will; you guys are my proud team." With this Kakashi gave one of his rare but sincere smiles. This caused the three Genin to smile in return.

"Yeah. Let's go." Naruto spoke and lead his two teammates as they walked into the Chuunin Selection Exam meeting room. When they walked in they couldn't help but be shocked. The sheer number of them was outrageous. After a quick count Naruto could see around 140 people and more were arriving. Naruto smiled, he could tell that these people were strong. Even Kurama inside Naruto was enjoying the sight. With this many people Kurama would be sure he could enjoy a good fight or two. Naruto was quickly shook out of his trance when he heard a yell from his right.

"Sasuke-kun! You're late!" Looking to his right he saw a girl from his class, Ino Yamanaka. "I haven't seen you for a while so I've been waiting in excitement." Naruto started to ignore her because he knew that she and Sakura were about to get into a yelling frenzy. Instead he walked up to Ino's two teammates, Shikamaru Nara and Chouji Akimichi. These two were equally as stupid as Naruto in the academy, and they were often told off together.

"Yo. Been a while. It seems that us three idiots are here." They were about to respond when another yell could be heard from behind him. "Speaking of idiots." Naruto turned to see the last member of their idiotic classmates, Kiba Inuzuka. Following him were his two teammates Hinata Hyuuga, and Shino Aburame.

"Well well. Everyone is assembled." This now group of nine were the new Genin who graduated from the Academy this year.

Ino had long blond hair tied up into a ponytail, and bright green eyes. She wore a short purple vest-like blouse with a raised collar, a purple skirt that is cut off on the sides and bandages on her stomach and legs. She also wears white elbow warmers. She ties her forehead protector around her waist like a belt. Naruto knew her as a Sasuke fan girl and Sakura's rival.

Shikamaru had long jet black hair tied up in a spiky ponytail. His brown eyes could barely be seen since he was too lazy to open his eyes all the way. He wore a mesh T-shirt under a short sleeved grey jacket and brown pants. His forehead protector was tied around his left arm. Naruto always saw him complaining about something because it was all too troublesome. He cares very little about anything.

Chouji's forehead protector was tied in an unusual manner that covered most of his hair, but allowed it show his spikey brown hair on both sides of his head. Unusual swirls were on both of his cheeks. He wore black shorts, and a green jacket that sat on top of a white shirt with the kanji for food on it. He also wore a long white scarf which surrounded his neck then draped down to his knee. His arms and legs were covered in bandages as well. Whenever Naruto saw him, he was always eating something which was why he was incredibly fat for a ninja.

Kiba covered most of his upper body with a fur lined grey jacket. This jacket covered his messy short brown hair and half covered his forehead protector which sat on his forehead. He also wore black pants which stopped at his calf. There were two unusual things about Kiba. One was the two triangle shaped red marks on both of his cheeks. And the other was the small white dog rest on top of his head. This dog was named Akamaru and they were always together. This was the only person in the academy who was louder than Naruto.

Hinata's black hair is in a short, levelled hime-cut style just above her forehead, with chin-length strands framing her face. Just underneath her strands at her forehead protector, this was tied loosely around her neck. She also wore a cream coloured hooded jacket with the hood down, and blue pants. Her eyes were pure white just like Neji's were. It seemed as though this was also a Kekkei Genkai similar to the Sharingan but Naruto didn't know what it could do yet.

Shino was easily the tallest of the nine graduates. He had dark bushy hair held in place by his forehead protector which sat on his forehead. His eyes couldn't be seen behind a plain of sunglasses, and the majority of his body was either covered by his sea-green jacket or brown pants. Even his hands were a rare sight as they were always in his pockets. Naruto didn't know much about this guy. The only thing that he remembered was that he had a weird fascination with bugs.

"Hey you guys, you should be more quiet." A new Genin approached them. Naruto had never seen this person in his life before. He was covered in dark-purple as his pants, shirt and gloves were all the same colour. He also wore a white undershirt and had a white cloth waistband. He had to occasionally boost up his glasses because they were too big for his face. "You guys are rookies just out of the academy, right? Screaming like school girls. Geez… This isn't a picnic."

The loud mouthed Ino was the first to respond "Who do you think you are?" She wasn't impressed by this stranger.

"I'm Kabuto. But instead of that, look behind you." The majority of the Genin looked back to see that they had gained the attention of the majority of the room because of their loud behaviour. "Those guys behind you are from the hidden rain. They have short tempers. Everyone is nervous about the exam, quiet down before you cause a scene." It was at this point that Naruto was unable to ignore the nagging sound within his head. Kurama wanted his attention.

Naruto dived down into his mindscape. Rather than the in his head conversation he figured they'd talk face to face since they have the time. Opening his eyes to see the cage holding the fox was a normal sight for Naruto. "What do you want Kurama? I am a little bit busy. If I pass these exams then I will go on harder missionswhich give me a higher chance of dying so you should be happy."

"**Hehe. Yes it is a good thing indeed. But that's not what I want to talk about. I've sensed a familiar chakra for a few days now but I didn't know what it was until now. To be honest it is a rather nostalgic feeling.**" Kurama paused and thought back to his past for a bit. "**There is someone in this room who is the same as you. A container for a Tailed Beast. I can sense Shukaku the One Tails here.**" Naruto's eyes widened in surprise.

"So are you saying that one of your siblings is in this room? Why don't you speak to him or her?"

"**Hehehe. Why would I the Nine Tails talk to the One Tails? Also it is a he.**"

"So does the number of tails show how strong you are? And there are tails between the two of you. Is there a Tailed Beast with more tails then you?" Naruto was intrigued. This was the first time Kurama was talking about himself as a Tailed Beast.

"**Hmmm…**" Kurama was trying to decide whether to talk about it or not. He figures that it didn't matter if he knew the minor details. "**Okay. I'll talk. There are nine of us Tailed Beasts ranging from one tail to nine tails, both of who are in this room. I could tell you their names but they really aren't important right now since you haven't met any other. If you want to know all of our names I can tell you whenever you want. It is very common for us to be sealed inside ninja to be used as a weapon which is what happened with you and Shukaku's host. I would love to keep talking but that person Kabuto is about to be attacked. Keep an eye on that Kabuto, he feels… off…**"

Naruto had no time to think as he saw someone leap into the air. He had spiky, dark hair and dark eyes. He wore a beige shirt with two black stripes and three prints of the kanji for death down the front as well as a snake patterned scarf around his neck. This person grabbed two unusual looking kunai and threw them towards Kabuto. Naruto quickly grabbed two shuriken and threw them to intersect these kunai. The person who threw it was only a distraction to make Kabuto run into another ninja who was running towards Kabuto from behind. This other ninja had bandages covering most of his face, leaving only his left eye uncovered. He also wore a large poncho with long sleeves, a similar scarf to that of his teammate and a large metal 'gauntlet' with holes on his right arm. His back was hunched, which made him look smaller than he actually was.

If Naruto hadn't interjected no one would have had time to react but since the first attack failed the Leaf Genin had enough time to prepare. Kiba, Sasuke and Chouji charged at the oncoming ninja while the others took defensive stances. The three tried to attack the hunched ninja from different directions; Kiba on the left, Chouji in the centre, and Sasuke on the right. But when they got close enough they were all sent flying in one clean swoop. It was neither fast nor strong; the attack was just one perfectly timed sweep of his right arm to slip in through all of their guards. Sasuke was the only one who managed to stay on his feet while the other two were sprawled along the floor. Without wasting a second the hunched ninja ran towards Kabuto readying his right arm. Swinging the attack Kabuto had managed to barely dodge it, however his glasses still broke. A second later Kabuto threw up which confused anyone who was watching the fight. The attack had clearly missed yet Kabuto was seriously hurt by it.

"Heh." The first spiky haired ninja laughed at Kabuto. He was now standing with his two teammates, one of who was the hunched ninja who batted away three Genin in one attack, and the other was a girl Naruto hadn't seen before. Her long black hair almost reaching down to the ground was tied by a violet ribbon right near the end. She wore a pale green vest that looked similar to a flak jacket but it wasn't, and snake patterned pants and scarf. This same pattern was on her teammates scarfs. Sakura and Ino ran towards Kabuto to see how he was doing while the rest of the Genin were staring at the trio.

The hunched ninja decided to speak "How pathetic. Aren't you a 4 year veteran? Write this down on your cards. 'The three hidden sound ninja, definite future Chuunin.'" Everyone remained silent in an attempt to figure out the trick behind his attack. The attack had missed Kabuto yet he was still hurt. Not only that he managed to bat away three Genin, albeit they weren't going all out. There was no mistake. This ninja was a force to be reckoned with.

Their thoughts were interrupted by a loud booming voice and a puff of smoke from the front of the classroom. "QUIET DOWN YOU WORTHLESS BASTARDS!" The majority of the Genin near the front jumped back in surprise while everyone else looked towards to smoke to see a large number of ninja appear. Each of them wore the same uniform and the similar Leaf Headband. They were led by a domineering man with scars all over his face, and a black coat which differentiated him from the rest. "Thanks for waiting. I am Ibiki Morino. The examiner for the Chuunin Selection Exam's First Test."

* * *

**A/N**

AND THE CHUUNIN EXAMS BEGIN!

I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. Tell me your thoughts on this chapter, REVIEWS PEOPLE. I will answer any questions so if you do want to know, do ask.

ARGH! I didn't realise some of my linebreakers weren't uploading properly. YOU HAVE TO TELL ME THESE THINGS! So that is why I am changing them. I didn't know that "***" isn't uploaded with the document. Now I'm changing it to "XXX" which does upload. I will go back and fix it for all of the chapters so I apologise to anyone who got a little confused when their was a gap in time with no indication of when, It won't happen again.

Signing out Comfy


	5. I Really Don't Care Right Now

**_Written by _****_Comfy Cushion_** and betaed by **_Juicy Phoenician_** and Dr. Fabulous.

* * *

"DON'T UNDERESTIMATE ME! I WILL NOT RUN AWAY! I'LL TAKE IT! EVEN IF I'M A GENIN FOREVER! I'LL BECOME STRONG ENOUGH TO MAKE YOU CHANGE YOUR MIND! EVEN IF THAT MEANS TO BECOME THE HOKAGE AND OUTRANK YOU! I AM NOT AFRAID!"

Naruto's cry rang out in the classroom. Ibiki Morino had organised everyone according to the numbers that they drew. It was a paper test in which nine complicated questions needed to be answered as well as the mysterious hidden tenth question which was to be revealed at a certain time. Naruto had a relatively uneventful test. He had no idea what the answer to any of the questions was and did not want to cheat. Hinata was sitting next to him and offered him her answers but Naruto kindly refused, although he was scared out of it by Ibiki. Kurama also was too busy trying to find who was the host of his brother Shukaku the One Tails. So Naruto was alone and decided to gamble everything he had on the final hidden tenth question. It was now time for that question to be revealed however Ibiki created one last rule. This rule was dubbed the "Rule of Desperation". Taking the tenth question was optional, if they chose not to they would be failed, but if they chose to take it and answered incorrectly then that person would be banned from ever taking the Chuunin Selection Exam again. Naruto wasn't happy with being underestimated like this so he voiced his complaint.

The test ran very differently for Sakura and Sasuke. Sakura was smart enough alone to answer all the questions alone. She was incredibly smart when it came to the theory of being a ninja but it was the practical stuff that was her weak point. She was about to give up so Naruto would be able to do the test at a later date. She wasn't going to let Naruto take the risk. Sasuke, however, realised the true nature of this test. The test was not only a test of intelligence of which very few would be able to pass, but it was also a test to see if they could gather intelligence. That was why they had so many Chuunin looking out for cheaters. They wanted you to cheat; the problem was that he wasn't sure that Naruto knew that. So when Naruto yelled at the top of his lungs, both Sakura and Sasuke smiled at their idiotic teammate. They should have known that he would do this.

The calm Ibiki wasn't fazed by Naruto's words. "I'll ask you again. Your life is riding on this decision; this is your last chance to quit."

"I follow my unbending words. That's my ninja way." A wave of confidence blasted around the room. Only a second ago everyone was shaking in their skin trying to decide whether they should take the tenth question or not. But now most of them were confident and patiently waiting for the next question. A lot of them couldn't help but smile at the blonde idiot whose unbending will managed to impact their own will.

Ibiki also acknowledged this. Naruto Uzumaki was someone who could instil confidence in his team. It would be difficult for even himself to break him. Ibiki Morino was the Special Jounin who was the commanding officer of the Konoha Torture and Interrogation Force. After a quick confirmation from his Chuunin helpers who just nodded he continued. "Good decision. Now to everyone still remaining." The room prepared themselves for the tenth question, but what they didn't expect was the confusing words that Ibiki spoke. "I congratulate you on passing your test!" The room gave him a confused look so he repeated himself. "To the 78 who remain. Congratulations on passing your first test."

Sakura was the first to regain her composure and ask. "Wait… What do you mean? We already pass? What about the 10th question?"

Ibiki just smiled "There never was such a thing, or you could say that those two choices were the 10th question." The room started to rise into an uproar.

A girl who Naruto didn't recognise yelled above everyone else "HEY! Then what was the first nine questions for?! THEY WERE POINTLESS THEN!"

"They were not pointless. They had already served their intended purpose." The rest of the room were surprised not only by the useless first nine question but also the complete change in personality of their examiner. "To test your individual information gathering ability; that purpose." When he was greeted by a bunch of confused looks he continued. "First, as the rules explained this test is based on the whole team doing well. This puts pressure on each member not to mess things up for their teammates.

Naruto nodded a few times and said "I had a feeling this test was like that." He was lying. He couldn't say he didn't know after his outburst. It would be downright embarrassing. Hinata giggled a bit at Naruto's antics.

Ibiki didn't hear him and continued "But the questions on this test were not the types that a mere Genin could answer. Because of that I'm sure most of the people came to the conclusion that to score points… I'll have to cheat. Basically the premise of this test is to cheat." At this a few people around the room smiled as they figured it out. "As cheating targets, we had two or so Chuunins who knew all the answers mixed into the crowd to help you guys out."

Naruto slumped down a little bit. He didn't notice at all. But laughter could be heard inside his head. '**HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. YOU HAD NO IDEA. HAHAHAHAHAHAHA. ARE YOU EVEN A NINJA? HAHAHAHA.**'

'Shut up Kurama. You could have helped.'

'**I could have but instead I found him. Shukaku is in a brat from the Sand Village. We'll talk more later.**'

"But those that cheat poorly fail of course." Ibiki took off his forehead protector which doubled as a bandana which covered his head. "Because at times, information is more important than your life, and on missions and the battlefield, people risk their lives to get their hands on it." His head was filed with drill holes and burns. This looked like the aftereffects of torture. "If the enemy or 3rd party notices you there is no guarantee the info will be accurate." He re-tied his forehead protector over his head. "I want you to remember this. Important information in your hands can be a powerful weapon for your comrades and for the village. So we had you gather information through cheating. This clearly separated those that did not have the right abilities.

The same girl whose voice reached above the previous uproar was still confused. "But I don't understand the final question."

Ibiki's smile never left his face. "But question 10 is the true purpose of this test."

"What do you mean?" Sakura asked.

"Let me explain. The 10th question… the "Take It" or "Not Take It" decision… Obviously these were painful choices. Those who chose the latter fail along with their teammates. Those who choose to take it could lose the chance to ever take the test again. A true leap of faith. How about these two choices… say you guys become Chuunins. Your mission is to steal a secret document. The amount of ninjas, their abilities, etc is unknown to you, and of course there could be traps set all around you. Now do you accept or not accept?" The confused looks in the room did not stop as Ibiki reached the main point of his example. "Because you don't want to die… Because you don't want your comrades hurt… can you avoid the dangerous mission? The answer is no." The majority of the room finally understood his point. "No matter what the danger there are missions you can't avoid. The ability to be courageous and survive any hardship; this is the ability needed to become a Chuunin captain. Those who can't out their destiny on the line… who cling to the uncertain future of "There's always next year" and then walk away from their chance. THOSE PIECES OF TRASH WHO CAN ONLY MAKE SUCH COWARDLY CHOICES DON'T HAVE THE RIGHT TO BECOME CHUUNIN. THAT'S HOW I FEEL!" He was practically yelling at the last words. Then he looked at Naruto who openly yelled this point. "Those who choose to take it answered the tough 10th question correctly. You will be able to survive any troubles you face in the future. You have made it through the entrance; the first test of the Chuunin selection exam is now finished. I wish you guys luck."

"HELL YEAH! WISH US LUCK!" Naruto yelled this out as everyone in the room begun an internal celebration. This was until the glass at the window broke. A blur came tumbling through the glass. Two kunai lodged into opposite walls revealing a banner. On the banner read "Chuunin Selection Exam Test 2." The rest of it was covered by the person who tumbled in.

She yelled. "YOU GUYS! THIS IS NO TIME TO BE CELEBRATING! I AM THE EXAMINER FOR THE SECOND TEST! ANKO MITARASHI! NOW LET'S GO! FOLLOW ME!" She raised her arm in a fist to psych up the classroom; however all she got was blank faces. She has light brown, pupil-less eyes, and violet hair styled in a short, spiky, fanned-ponytail. She wore a mesh fit body suit which ranged from the base of her neck to just above her knees. Over that there was a tan-coloured overcoat which reached her shin guards on both legs. She also wore a dark orange mini skirt and a forehead protector on her forehead.

Ibiki poked his head past the banner and looked at Anko "Bad timing." This caused Anko to blush into a deep red.

Sakura's voice could be heard behind Naruto "This examiner is Naruto-ish." All of the Leaf Genin who were in earshot couldn't help but agree. Naruto's antics were well known.

"78?!" After a quick count Anko wasn't happy with the amount of teams left. "Ibiki! You left 26 teams?! The test was too easy this time!"

Ibiki just countered by saying "This time… there are a lot of outstanding ones."

"Bah… that's fine." Anko just shrugged it off. For Ibiki to call this group outstanding then maybe they were. "I'll at least cut them in half in the second test. Ahhh… I'm getting excited. I'll explain everything once we've changed places, follow me." The Genin who had never met Anko before became a little scared at her sadistic side.

The Genin speedily left the room following Anko. This was an interesting group. He dismissed his Chuunin and decided to collect the papers himself. Of the Leaf Ninja there were quite a few Genin who had tried the Chuunin exams before. Even the newer Genin were a force to be reckoned with. Of the 9 new Genin there were 7 clan abilities, one dead clan member, and one unknown. They had an interesting group at the academy. This group had the chance to be incredibly strong. Maybe even stronger than his group was. He couldn't help but think back to his own Chuunin Selection Exam where he had to fight against Anko in their teams of three. Though they were much younger than this group, this group didn't have a war to fight. Flipping the next piece of paper he was shocked. It was blank. This caused him the chuckle. Someone got through with a blank test. Naruto Uzumaki. He is an interesting one.

XXX

"Welcome to the stage for the second test, practise arena 44, also known as "The Forest of Death."" Anko had led the group of Genin to the outskirts of the village where they stood in front of a giant forest. The trees were taller than anything Naruto had to climb before, and they looked like they were dying. They were covered in moss and they didn't look safe to climb.

"This is creepy." Sakura who stood in-between her teammates couldn't help but comment. This forest scared her.

"You'll soon find out why it's called "The Forest of Death"" Anko spoke again to further scare the Genin but Naruto could barely hear her with Kurama calling out to him.

'**Yo brat. Let's talk.** **But stay out there, I'll have to show you who has Shukaku.**' Kurama's words caused Naruto to tense up. He was about to find out who was the same as him. '**Okay look over your right shoulder. There is a boy with a gourd from the sand village standing next to** **another boy with something strung over his back and a girl also have something on her back. The guy probably has a puppet since the sand village is good with those. I'm not too sure about the girl though.**' Looking over his shoulder he saw the people who Kurama was talking about.

The man with the gourd had short spiky red hair with pupil-less green eyes. He had black rings around his eyes and the kanji character for 'love' on his forehead. He wore a black full body suit that left his arms uncovered and underneath that was a mesh shirt only visible at his biceps. He had a leather belt wrapped around his chest from his shoulder to his waist to hold up the gourd on his back. His forehead protector was tied to this belt. The gourd itself was a light brown colour, similar to sand, and had cracks in it. It had a cork blocking its entrance and a red cloth tied around the centre. He was the host for Shukaku the One Tails.

The other man to his right was taller than the first and was covered from his head to his ankle in a black full body suit. His forehead protector was a part of his headgear and sat directly on his forehead. Aside from triangular pattern face paint and red and yellow circle on his chest, his outfit was rather bland. On his back something completely wrapped in bandages. These bandages were tied in a way that two strands would branch off making it similar to a backpack. The only visible part of what was on his back was a patch of brown bristles at the tip. Kurama said that this may be a puppet.

The girl to the left of them both had green eyes and blond hair which was gathered into four ponytails, forming a rectangular shape around her head. She wore a light purple, garment that extended from just below her shoulder to halfway down her thighs, with a red sash tied around her waist. She also wore a mesh shirt over her shoulders and parts of her leg, specifically on her right calf and her left thigh. Her forehead protector sat around her neck. On her back sat a black stick thing that was probably her weapon. Even Kurama wasn't sure what it is.

These were ninja from the Village Hidden in the Sand and they felt strong. Naruto thought it would be interesting to fight against these ninja. Naruto was quickly dragged out of his thought with Anko yelling to the crowd. "Now before we start the second test, there's something I have to pass out. You must sign these agreement forms." The crowd stood in confusion, what were these forms. This caused Anko to smile as she continued "There will be deaths in this one, and if I don't have you sign these it will all be my responsibility." The crowd went dead silent, they could die in this test. "I'm going to explain the second test, then you can sign it afterwards and then which teams will check in at that booth behind me." Anko handed the group of forms to Naruto who was standing the closest, Naruto took one and passed them on. Anko continued her explanation. "I'll now explain the second test. Simply put you will attempt the ultimate survival. First I'll explain the area in which it will take place. Around practise area no. 44 there are 44 locked gates, forest, river, and a tower in the centre. From the gates to the tower is about 10 km. During the survival in here, you will be asked to complete a certain task. Using many weapons and jutsu you will compete in a no rules scroll battle." At that Anko held up a white scroll.

"Scroll?" The Genin were a little confused with what she meant by scroll.

Showing that she had a black scroll with the kanji "Earth" in one hand and a white scroll with the kanji for "Heaven" in the other , Anko spoke "You will fight over these two scrolls, the "Heaven" and "Earth". There are78 people here meaning 26 teams. Half, 13 will get the "Heaven" scroll and the other 13 teams will get the "Earth" scroll. To pass this test your team must make it to the tower with both scrolls." Anko paused for a moment to let her words sink in.

"So 13 teams will lose their scrolls. Half the teams will definitely fail." Sakura stated her quick calculations. The group understood that this test was meant to greatly reduce the number of possible selections for the third and final test of the selection exams.

"But there's a time limit. This second test will last 120 hours. Exactly five days." The crowd roared with displeasure.

A specific chubby ninja could be heard above all the others "WHAT ABOUT DINNER?!"

Anko looked indifferent to the question. "You're on your own. The forest is full of food. Just watch out for man-eating beasts, poisonous insects, poisonous plants. And 13 teams passing is not likely. As the days go on, the distance to the goal will become farther, and the time to rest will become shorter, and the area is crawling with enemies, you won't get much sleep. So not only will some fail by losing the scroll, but some will die from the harshness of the course. Now I'll talk about what will disqualify you. First, those that don't make it to the tower with both scrolls, within the time limit. Second, those who lose a teammate or those who have a teammate killed. As a rule, there is no quitting in the middle; you will be in the forest for five days. And one more rule, you must not look inside the scroll until you make it to the tower."

"What happens if you do?" Naruto absentmindedly asked. Why were they scrolls if you can't see what's written.

"That will be a surprise for anyone who does. A chuunin will be asked to handle classified information. This is to test your trustworthiness. That is it for the explanations. Exchange the 3 forms for your scroll, and then choose a gate to get ready for the start. A final word of advice. Don't die."

XXX

The teams quickly handed in their scrolls and received their scroll. They were covered so no one could see who got what scroll. Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura received a Heaven scroll. They entered from gate twelve at the allocated time, and had walked for a while thinking of a plan. Unfortunately, Naruto's bladder wouldn't hold out so Naruto was off in the bush doing his business when someone appeared behind him. He quickly spun a roundhouse kick and sent the unknown ninja flying into a nearby tree. Hearing a crash Sasuke and Sakura quickly appeared behind Naruto who still had his pants down. Sakura turned to a bright red while Sasuke looked at the ninja on the tree.

"Shit." The unknown ninja quickly got up and left. Meanwhile Sakura had tick marks appear on her forehead as she approached Naruto. Quickly putting his manliness away, Naruto embraced for impact as Sakura punched him in the face. Sasuke just sighed as he got all three of them to sit down.

"If we get separated next time. Even if it's one of us don't trust them. This could happen again." Sasuke had gone into serious mode. Once again their team were in a life and death situation where if they weren't ready, they could die.

"Then what do we do?" Sakura seemed to be full of questions today.

"We'll make a code word just in case. Listen, if they get the codeword wrong, assume they are the enemy no matter what they look like. Listen carefully I'll say it once. "The Nin song, 'Nin Machine'". When this is asked answer with "A large amount of loud enemies is the friend of the ninja. Hide and remain silent. A ninja must understand the proper time when the enemy is tired and ill prepared."" Naruto just nodded. He didn't know most of it but Sasuke knew that Naruto wouldn't be able to. This was a plan to throw off an enemy, someone was listening to them now. "I'll hold the scroll." A whizzing sound could be heard and blood started to drip from Naruto's cheek. Suddenly something huge came flying in and smashed into Naruto sending him flying. Sakura and Sasuke were already out of its path so they weren't hit. Naruto finally stopped flying as he hit a tree a fair distance away.

'**Hey brat. Get up.**' Naruto quickly jumped up and saw that a giant snake was approaching him at an alarming rate. '**Your teammates are in deep trouble Naruto. They are stuck against someone at the Kage level.**' Naruto was shocked. Why was there someone at the level of Kage in this forest? Were they hidden among the Genin? Naruto had no time to waste. He had to defeat this snake then go help his team.

'Kurama?' The snake was getting closer.

'**Yeah you will need it. You can use it for 2 minutes at one tail cloak without losing control or 20 minutes of non-cloak form. You don't need the cloak against this snake, so save it for the Kage level.**' The snake had opened its mouth and was about to clamp it on Naruto.

'Roger.' The snake exploded. Naruto had punched it in its face making it explode with the pressure. Naruto's finger nails had grown into claws, and his teethe became sharper. Naruto had become more beastlike. Then Naruto disappeared. He used Shunshin (Body Flicker) to get closer to his team. He soon found his team. There was a weird snake like thing going towards a stationary Sasuke.

'I'm borrowing your strength Kurama.' An orange cloak of chakra appeared around Naruto. One tail appeared behind him. He no longer had time to waste. He disappeared from where he was and reappeared on top of the weird snake like thing. It turns out this snake thing was a person. This was the Kage levelled thing Kurama was talking about. The branch they were on broke under the pressure and a lump of flesh was sent flying.

"NARUTO" Sakura's scream held both delight and fear. Naruto had appeared and saved Sasuke but all she could feel was fear.

"Naruto, I know this thing makes you stronger but this guy is on a whole other level." Sasuke was shaking. He was scared of this opponent.

"Pfft." Naruto was disappointed. This wasn't the Sasuke he knew. "You're pathetic. Just take Sakura and run if you're so afraid. Do you think you can win against Itachi if you run away from this guy?" Sasuke stopped shaking. Naruto was right.

"Kukuku. Well said." The snake like thing stood like a normal person now. He didn't see Naruto but wasn't hurt by his attack either. "The pray knows that it cannot fight so it must run, but if it always runs it will never become the hunter." Naruto once again disappeared from beside Sasuke and reappeared behind the snake man. Naruto tried to punch him but missed. The snake man had moved the minimum amount necessary to avoid the blow. Naruto appeared behind him again and attacked but missed. This continued for a while of attack and miss. From the first attack Sasuke activated his Sharingan but was unable to follow Naruto's movements. But it was obvious that the snake man wasn't even trying.

"I need to help." Sasuke pulled out a shuriken and a kunai and threw them at the snake man. Naruto felt this attack coming so he once again disappeared. The snake man also saw the kunai fly towards him so he dodged those with ease. However what he couldn't see was the orange blur that appeared beneath him. Naruto kicked upwards sending the snake man into the air. The Genin thought that he couldn't dodge in mid-air. They were right, but he didn't need to. He slid up one of his sleeves to reveal a black pattern on his left arm. He bit his right thumb and spread the blood on the pattern.

"Summoning Jutsu." Out of nowhere a snake appeared and charged straight at Sasuke. This snake was larger than the one Naruto killed earlier.

"What will you do now?" The snake charged at Sasuke.

'**You're almost out of time. You used more chakra than normal to keep up. This guy might actually be able to fight a Kage.**' Naruto quickly charged towards Sasuke. He beat the snake there and grabbed its face as it got closer. The pressure of the two clashing sent a shockwave around. The snake disappeared in a puff of smoke. The orange surrounding Naruto disappeared as he collapsed to the floor. He was exhausted and if he used Kurama's chakra anymore there would be serious trouble.

XXX

'_Hey Kurama.' Naruto had got back to the Leaf Village from the Wave country a week ago. He finally decided to talk about the power that he used against Haku. 'You know that cloak that I used to defeat Haku. I felt that I could of used it for longer than what you said but I stopped just in case. Can you explain to me how it works?'_

'_**Hmmmm…**__' Kurama was amused by this question. '__**You want me to tell you how to use me. I'm not some weapon you can use when you want.**__' _

'_I know. I just want to know how you work. I mean you would be getting rather bored in there, is there a way I can let you out for a while?'_

'_**HAHAHAHA. You really are a useless brat. You can let me out by dying or getting angry.**__'_

'_I mean beside those.'_

'_**Okay… I'll tell you. My strength as it is now comes from hatred. I have a specific ability where I can detect negative emotions. This is how I've been able to tell you about your attackers before you get attacked. Originally I wasn't a massive ball of hatred but after imprisonment within two bitches I ended up having too much hatred for everything. So when I got sealed inside you I had no choice but to set myself deep within the darkness inside you.**__'_

'_Couldn't you change yourself from hatred to something else? Like joy or something?'_

'_**Unfortunately no. I myself am not hatred but my power is. It is not a conscious choice. It is something that you need to do. You have to conquer your own hatred and get rid of it all, then my power will change.**__'_

'_Then I'll do that.'_

'_**Hahaha. It's not that simple, plus I don't know where a certain Waterfall of Truth is so it is impossible. Not only that but it is impossible for you to stop hating this village which hates you. Even you should know that.**__'_

'_Hmmm. I guess you are right. I hate this place; I mean what was with that guy the other day, attacking me out of nowhere. That doesn't explain why I can't use your power for longer though.'_

'_**Well, I guess the best way to explain it is with colours. My chakra is a pure red colour so if I was using chakra it'd be red. This red is now hatred. Your chakra is blue. Blue is just you, there is no emotion attached to it. Now, when you use my chakra it becomes orange, a mix of blue and red. This orange colour represents your chakra stopping the hatred in my chakra. After prolonged use however your chakra will exhaust and let the hatred through. At that point neither of us has control and you start hating more and more until you become a red coloured monster. Eventually I will be freed but you don't want that do you.**__'_

'_No. I would like to stay alive. As much as it doesn't look like it I do enjoy living.'_

'_**Not much of a life but, aye we can't all be good looking. Hahaha. I gave you a time limit because I'm not too sure how I want to be freed. If you lose control I get out but I'm a mass of hatred. But if you die I also die for five years. That would be annoying. So until I figure it out I'll give you time limits on my power.**__'_

XXX

Naruto wasn't sure whether he should continue to use Kurama's chakra or not. Sasuke and Sakura were in serious trouble if he did nothing. Sasuke and the snake man were going at it for a bit, but Naruto was too tired to see what was happening. Eventually a tired Sasuke stood next to Naruto while the snake man stood a short distance away. His face was melting away to reveal an older person.

"My name is Orochimaru. If you want to see me again then survive and pass this exam. Of course defeating my men the sound ninja trio on the way."

"What the hell are you talking about?!" Naruto didn't see when but Sakura was now standing beside Sasuke. "We'd never want to see your face again!" Why was she taunting him? He's going to do something now.

'**Hey brat. If that is Orochimaru we are only alive because he didn't want to kill us. That man is dangerous.**'

"Hehe… It won't go that way." Orochimaru's neck begun stretching as it approached Sasuke at an alarming speed. Naruto used the last of his energy to get up and get in between Orochimaru and Sasuke. Naruto felt teeth dig into his left arm. "Well… I didn't expect that." Naruto collapsed and began losing consciousness. Naruto fully lost awareness just after he saw Orochimaru dig his teeth into Sasuke's neck as well.

XXX

Naruto opened his eyes to see the ceiling of a sewer. He realised that he was inside his mindscape again. However something felt wrong. There was an unusual chakra in the air.

"**COMON YOU USELESS EXCUSE OF A NINJA WAKE UP NOW.**" Naruto could hear Kurama yelling in the background but he was too busy following the strange chakra to listen to what he was saying. Kurama thought Naruto was still passed out, but he needed him awake now, this was bad.

Naruto continued to follow the feeling until he found its source. It was at a room he had yet to see before. No matter how often he tried to explore his mindscape he could never see it all.

"**HEY BRAT! IF YOU ARE AWAKE YOU NEED TO GET HERE NOW! DO YOU WANT TO DIE?!**" Naruto once again heard Kurama but didn't listen. He walked into the room and was shocked at what was inside. An egg made out of flesh was in the centre of the room. It looked like it was morphing into something weird. The egg could be seen through if you looked hard enough but Naruto had to get closer to do so. Slowly trudging forward he got closer, and closer, and closer, until he could finally see what was inside. It was Orochimaru. He sat cross legged in the centre of the egg.

"**LISTEN BRAT. YOU NEED TO HURRY OR ELSE YOUR CHAKRA WILL BECOME A WARZONE BETWEEN ME AND THAT THING.**" Naruto finally understood what was being said. This thing was bad news. Naruto started to run towards Kurama's room when the Orochimaru behind him opened his eyes. However, rather than pupils there were three slightly curved lines that pointed towards a common centre. These lines started to grow longer and become straighter as they spread all across Orochimaru's body and further onto Naruto's mindscape. Naruto felt a searing pain in his left arm, which was where it was now. It slowly spread to the base of his hand as he ran. By the time he reached Kurama his whole left arm felt like it was on fire.

"**About time brat. Listen that thing is a piece of Orochimaru that absorbs chakra from outside your body and corrupts it. You need to get rid of it or my chakra and that chakra will be fighting over your body and you will become nothing but a husk. You will mentally die. You need to come inside this cage so I can flow more chakra into your arm killing Orochimaru and the foreign chakra.**"

"Wait wait. Slow down." Naruto wasn't in the best state of mind considering how much pain he was in but from what he gathered "if what you say is true then this is what you want. I will become a husk for you to free yourself with. You don't lose to hatred and don't die for five years either."

"**LISTEN BRAT THERE IS NO TIME!**"

"THEN WHY DO YOU WANT TO SAVE ME?"

Kurama paused for a bit. "**Who said I want to save you? I just don't like this thing.**" This was enough for Naruto as he ran inside the cage to be met by a wave of Kurama's chakra. The warm sensation of Kurama's chakra made Naruto pass out inside his mindscape, but he did notice that his arm was no longer burning.

XXX

After Sasuke was bitten he felt a similar burning sensation except he had nothing to stop it. He didn't have someone to force him into his mindscape so he lay there in sheer agony while asleep. He had to survive this pain; he NEEDED TO SURVIVE SO HE COULD KILL HIM! After what seemed like days the pain subdued, he opened his eyes to see that he was in dream. In front of him was his younger self. His younger version was taunting the older.

'You're WEAK. If only you were STRONGER.' Sasuke just stood there looking at himself. He knows he needed to be stronger.

'Mum and Dad wouldn't of died if you were stronger.' The younger Sasuke started digging at his face revealing Orochimaru's face beneath. Sasuke didn't realise who it was though. He just knew that the younger him was right. HE NEEDED STRENGTH!

Sasuke opened his eyes for real this time. He began standing up as he heard Sakura's voice. "Sasuke-kun you're awake." With a quick look at the surrounding area he was confused. There were six Leaf ninja and 3 Sound ninja who shouldn't be here. Sakura was badly injured, Ino was unconscious, Chouji and Shikamaru were worn out, someone he had never met before was on the floor writhing in pain and two others were standing on the nearby trees.

'SAKURA IS BADLY INJURED.'

"Sakura." Sasuke's voice came out as cold as ice. The left half of his body had some weird pattern over it which made his chakra sickening cold. "Who did that to you?"

'YOU COULDN'T PROTECT HER.'

"Sasuke-kun." Everyone was surprised by how cold Sasuke felt. This was not the Sasuke they all knew.

"Who is it?"

'YOU ARE WEAK AND PATHETIC.'

"I did it." One of the sound ninja spoke out.

"Sasuke-kun… your body…" Sakura voiced her concern but it fell on deaf ears.

'BECOME STRONGER.'

Looking at his left arm Sasuke saw the marks but replied with "Don't worry. Not only that… I feel power flowing from within me. I feel great. He gave it to me." Sakura looked confused at this statement.

'WHAT IS YOUR PURPOSE? WHY DO YOU NEED STRENGTH? NEVER FORGET.'

Sasuke continued "I finally understand it. I am an avenger. Even if I must eat the devil's fruit, I am on a path where I must gain power. Now… It was you guys right?"

'HATE THEM MORE.'

"INO THIS IS BAD! YOU'LL GET CAUGHT UP! RETURN TO YOUR BODY! YOU COME TOO CHOUJI! WE'RE HIDING!" Shikamaru called back his team and hid. Sasuke's curse mark continued to spread across his body and his chakra grew colder.

'HATE THEM.'

"HIS CHAKRA IS TOO LARGE!" The hunched ninja who attacked them before the start of the first exam stated in fear. He realised that the power he was using was not his own, but something given to him by Orochimaru.

'HATE THEM.'

"DOSU! No need to be afraid of this half dead freak!" The one who threw the kunai before the first exam held his hands together. He was preparing an attack.

"NO ZAKU! DON'T YOU REALISE?!" The one named Dosu was panicking; his teammate was doing something very stupid.

'KILL THEM!'

"Extreme Decapitating Airwaves." Zaku let out an attack from his palms. It was an intensely strong blast of wind which blew away anything in front of it, even the ground itself. "Heh. I've blown him away."

"Blown who away?" A voice appeared behind Zaku. He quickly turned to see an arm send him flying. Sasuke had grabbed Naruto and Sakura and run behind Zaku where it was safe. Sasuke quickly did hand signs and took a deep breath. He was about to unleash a flame jutsu on his opponent when a hand grabbed him from behind. Naruto had awoken. Naruto's left hand rested on Sasuke's shoulder, and after a quick look Sasuke saw that Naruto had a similar mark to his except Naruto's didn't emit a cold chakra.

"That's enough Sasuke. You're scaring two of your fangirls." Naruto looked into the bush straight at Ino who was equally as distraught as the girl behind him. "Is this really the path you want to follow?" Zaku dragged himself out of the dirt. He lifted his arms again ready to fire another blast but was stopped by Dosu who stood in the way. He saw the mark on Naruto as well and panicked. They could not fight two of those marks.

"Move Dosu. I'll beat them." Sasuke looked towards him with cold eyes. But Naruto was still holding him back. "You're worrying too much. Only Sasuke has the curse mark, the other one doesn't." Dosu also realised that the coldness was lacking, but Sasuke was too much for them now.

Dosu pulled out his scroll. "Here's a gift to you. Please let us leave. This may seem conveinient but there is something we must ifnd out now. But I will promise you this, if there is another situation where we will meet in this exam, we will neither run nor hide." Dosu grabbed the unconscious girl of his team and slung her over his shoulder. Zaku was unhappy about it but followed Dosu who was clearly the leader.

"WAIT!" Sakura screamed out. "WHO IS OROCHIMARU?! WHAT DID HE DO TO SASUKE-KUN?! WHY TO SASUKE-KUN?!"

"I don't know. We were merely ordered to kill Sasuke-kun." Dosu turned around. "By the way. Sasuke-kun doesn't seem to be the only one who got the curse mark. Don't forget about your other teammates." He jumped away with Zaku following. The curse mark on Sasuke's skin crawled back.

Naruto let go of Sasuke's arm and walked forward. He collected the scroll that was left behind. It was another Heaven scroll. Now they had two of those but needed an Earth scroll. Tucking it away, Naruto walked towards Lee who was lying on the ground. Ino grabbed Sakura and sat her down; she was going to fix up her hair which was now short with a kunai. Tenten jumped down and walked to where Naruto and Lee were. Naruto picked Lee up and carried him over his shoulder. He was awfully heavy for his size. The bandages on his arms were partially unwound and they revealed his hands which were covered in cut and scars.

"Does he get those from training?" Naruto asked the approaching Tenten.

"Yeah. He trains insanely hard. But he's still an idiot." She grabbed him and started to shake him. "SNAP OUT OF IT LEE!" She yelled at the limp body.

That was until he woke up and slumped down. "Tenten why are you here?"

"We came to save you."

Lee started to look left and right. "Hey? Where are the Sound ninja?"

"They're gone. But man you sure got beat. How strong were they?" Naruto rubbed the back of his head.

"The hunched one seemed to be the strongest and he had an unusual ability. If they fought one at a time I would have won." Lee just sat there but looked down as if it was internal damage that was dealt to him.

"Yeah. Anyway thank you for protecting us from that." Naruto walked to where Shikamaru and Chouji were. "Did you guys help as well? You seem to be better off than Bushy Brows."

Shikamaru decided to answer. "All we did was manage to buy time for Sasuke to wake up. Thankfully that Neji arrived when he did." Shikamaru looked really bothered by the fact he had to talk to Naruto, but he figured he should at least say this.

Chouji decided to help his friend and finish off for him. "When we got here we saw you and Sasuke unconscious and Lee fighting the three Sound ninja. He tried to save Sakura just after he asked her out. She rejected him though." Laughter escaped Naruto's mouth. He wasn't very happy right now but he had to smile. His behaviour didn't escape Neji's eyes though. Naruto walked away from everyone else and sat alone in the cave. Neji walked in after.

"You are good." This was the first time Neji was going to have a conversation with Naruto. "At hiding your emotions, I mean. You are nothing but a loser that feels depressed and angry yet you know how to mask it with a smile."

"What do you want?" Since Naruto didn't have to put up a façade in front of someone who could see through it he just stayed angry.

"I want to know how you countered my Gentle Fist. If you don't tell me I will keep talking." Neji kept his voice calm and cold.

However Naruto didn't know what he was talking about. "Gentle Fist? Do what you want. I really don't care right now."

"Okay then." Neji took a deep breath as he started. "I don't know who this Orochimaru is but he attacked you and Sasuke with something that resulted in the markings along your arm and Sasuke's body. Sakura, however, didn't really care that you were hit by it. She focused on the genius love of her life rather than the useless loser who likes her."

"Liked" Naruto corrected him. "She is nothing but a bitch and I realise that now. Look Neji. I don't know what this Gentle… whatever is. But I'm guessing it had to do with that time you attacked me. If it helps I have two types of chakra within me. That might of impacted whatever you are talking about, just please, leave me alone."

"Hmmm…" Neji pondered what he was told for a minute then he replied. "Okay, I'll accept that but I don't know how you can have two types of chakra. Oh and one more thing. You have no need for two Heaven scrolls so I will be taking it."

Naruto looked up. "No you won't be. Why don't our teams stay together until the tower? This way all we need is one more scroll then we are both through. It will be a temporary alliance. Also you are more than welcome to fight against my team and Shikamaru's team because I know they wouldn't mind an alliance to get to the end. Now leave me alone and make your decision."

* * *

**A/N**

Not much to say about this one, just that I hoped you all like it. Please review *insert puppy dog eyes*.

Signing out Comfy


	6. You Are Not The Only One

**_Written by _****_Comfy Cushion_** and betaed by **_Juicy Phoenician_** and Dr. Fabulous.

* * *

The "Forest of Death" was meant to instil fear in the Genin who partook in this Chuunin Selection Exam. It was commonly used when the Village Hidden in the Leaves hosted the exam. This place was full of animals that would attack people on sight. Even some Jounin have trouble getting through this forest unscathed so it makes sense for the Genin to not draw unwanted attention from the animals and quickly grab a scroll. However the usually dead silent forest was filled with noise as three of the Leaf Village Genin teams were currently in the same place. Ino was fixing Sakura's now short hair to making it look cleaner. Her hair was now shoulder length but aside from that held a similar shape with two bangs down the sides of her face and the rest of it was draped behind her. The two of them were bickering about something. Naruto could barely hear what they were saying but he could make out the word "Sasuke-kun" being said a few times. Shikamaru and Chouji stood together away from everyone else. The two of them were actually talking which was very uncommon for Shikamaru. They were probably discussing the Sound Ninja's who they just fought. Naruto noticed that they seemed to be the best of friends as they were always together. Neji was also standing a fair bit away from everyone else; he was the most antisocial person here. Naruto refused to drop his guard because there was a chance that Neji would attack everyone not on his team to get their scrolls.

Lee, Tenten, Sasuke and Naruto were together discussing what had just happened to them. Lee was sitting cross legged on the floor with Tenten standing above him, while Sasuke sat across from Lee relatively exhausted with Naruto standing to his left. Standing where he was he could keep an eye on Neji while partaking in the conversation. Lee was doing a recount on what happened when only he and Sakura were here.

"My team had split up and we were meant to gather water and food, but I saw a squirrel with an explosive tag on its back. I barely managed to save it; even animals know when they are in danger so it was rather thankful towards me. It led me to a clearing where I saw Sakura standing between you two unconscious and the three Sound Ninja." At this Lee signalled to Naruto and Sasuke. "I jumped in and kicked them all away with ease. I ended up fighting the hunched one who used some strange jutsu where he uses sound waves to send people off balance through the ear. I would have beaten him if the other guy didn't save him. He went to attack Sakura so I had to block which amplified his jutsu causing me to collapse. I couldn't get up and could only watch as Sakura escaped from the Sound girl and fought against the other Sound guy who you beat, in order to protect the three of us. All she could do was buy time, but fortunately those three arrived. At that point I lost consciousness; the sound attack was too much."

"Were they really that strong?" Sasuke asked. Of course he would ask after he beat them all with ease. That mark on his neck must have made him incredibly strong if they couldn't do anything against him. "I mean I know I only fought against one, but they ran from me. Weren't you stronger than this?"

"Hey hey." Naruto spoke rather than Lee. "You can't say that Sasuke considering you didn't fight two of them. Heck, even Sakura fought more of them than you did. Don't go belittling someone else when you weren't even using your own strength." Naruto's words held a deeper meaning that only Sasuke realised. Sasuke knew that Naruto never looked down on anyone because he was always the lowest, but recently he could use the Nine Tails' chakra making him incredibly strong yet he still never looked down on anyone. "But Lee, can you tell us about their powers?"

"The taller guy could shoot high pressure wind out of his hands. He could change the pressure of his he could do things from blowing back shuriken to softening the ground."

"Oh so that's why you lost." Tenten realised something that Naruto and Sasuke didn't. Tenten quickly covered her mouth, they didn't know about the Initial Lotus. "Sasuke and Naruto were awake to see that guy fight. I think they meant the hunched guy and girl."

"Oh… I didn't see if the girl fought, but she used senbon as a weapon." Naruto and Sasuke shared a look. They remembered the last time they fought against a senbon wielding girl. "But as for the guy he controls sound waves which are produced from that gauntlet on his right arm. Barely dodging the attack will cause you to lose balance as he controls the sound waves with chakra and sends them into your ears. But if you block then the sound waves are amplified and does more damage. If you are forced to block his attack you will lose. Also his Taijutsu is good. They aren't as good as mine or Neji's but they are good enough to beat someone who doesn't specialise in it."

After the four of them listened to Lee's recount they just continued to talk. It was still early morning on the second day and if they had the scrolls they could make it to the tower by nightfall. It was about time for the groups to split up so Shikamaru, Chouji and Ino decided to leave first. They had to find some weak group to take a scroll off to pass. Neji had pulled his team to the side and told them Naruto's offer while Naruto took his team inside the cave to tell them what he told Neji.

"Okay…" Neji started. "Naruto offered an alliance to finish this Test together. I want you two to decide what to do. His team has two Heaven scrolls so we can work together to get one more Earth scroll so we can both pass."

Tenten and Lee were thinking about the suggestion. "Why not? With two team's it'll be easier to get one scroll." Tenten was the first to speak.

"But this is unlike you Neji. Have you finally bathed in the waters of friendship?" Lee continued.

"No. It doesn't matter what we decide, we will get through this easily. So I'm letting you decide. Sasuke Uchiha can't do anything because of that evil chakra he was using before, Sakura Haruno is only good with theory, and Naruto Uzumaki is a born loser so it's just three liabilities added to our team. We don't need them, but it doesn't matter." Neji was adamant in his opinion. He knows that they don't need them to pass but it could help to have them.

"Let's work together." Lee had turned serious. "With our skills there is no need to worry about them betraying us. Even if they do you can close off all of Naruto's chakra points leaving their whole team useless."

"That's the problem." Neji had to share this with his team. "I can't stop Naruto. Do you remember a month ago when I attacked him and he reopened his chakra points?" After a quick nod from Lee, Neji continued. "Well I asked him and he says that he has two types of chakra so I can't stop him from using Ninjutsu. I know I can easily beat him, but he is the only person with a chance at beating me." Lee was shocked. His rival had just acknowledged someone else's skill. He had never done this before. He was always arrogant and saying that losers are losers with no chance of winning, but just then he contradicted himself by saying that Naruto could win against him.

"YOSH!" Lee yelled. "I need to train more! Let's work with them."

X Meanwhile inside the cave X

Sasuke and Sakura were listening intently. Naruto had called them in for a team meeting. "Okay guys. I have offered Neji an alliance."

"Why would you do that?" Sasuke was outraged.

"Yeah Naruto. Don't do something like that without talking to us first." Sakura also wasn't happy.

Naruto just stood there in silence. "Can I speak now? Or do you want to keep yelling at me?" Sakura and Sasuke backed off slightly. "Look, both Sasuke and I are weaker than what we should be. And the three Sound ninja will be coming back for Sasuke. Sakura you have already fought with all three of them alone and you lost." Sakura seemed to take up less space after Naruto said this. "Neji's team will be good to have around so we can have them help us against the Sound. Not only that with them here you won't be forced to use that mark." This was directed at Sasuke. Sakura quickly agreed with Naruto. She didn't know what it was but it wasn't a good thing.

"Okay… I see your point." Sasuke wanted to know more about the mark before he used it again. "What scrolls do they have?"

"They have an Earth scroll. And somehow Neji knew we have two Heaven scrolls." Naruto said. He didn't know what Neji's ability was, but he could tell it was strong. "With two teams getting one Earth scroll should be easy then we can all pass together."

Sakura looked at Sasuke "I think it's a good idea. We don't know when the Sound trio will return. Even Orochimaru might reappear."

Sasuke weighed his options. "Okay. We will work together if they accept." Naruto nodded at this. "But there is still something we need to talk about. This mark that I have. Orochimaru gave it to me when he bit me, but he bit you as well Naruto. I can see the marking on your hand, it's similar to the ones I had, but yours is still there."

Naruto rolled up his sleeve. Sakura was surprised to see the marks on him. A number of lines extended from the tip of his hand to the edge of his shoulder. These lines took square corner turns at random intervals, and crossed each other's paths but all stemmed from the single point. Three slightly curved lines that pointed to the centre.

"Don't worry. This one is dead." Naruto tried to settle things with those words but it wasn't enough for Sasuke.

"What do you mean dead? How the…" Sasuke trailed off when he realised. Naruto said that he wasn't at full power. The Nine Tails must have done something to stop the mark so that's why Naruto can't use its power for a while. "Okay. I understand."

Naruto was about to speak when a "YOSH!" could be heard outside. It seems as though that team has finished their talk.

"Let's go see their answer. But get ready to fight, just in case." Sasuke said as he led the trio out.

Team Gai was standing side by side waiting when Naruto joined Sasuke outside. "What is your decision?" Naruto spoke. Since he offered he would be the one negotiating.

"We have agreed…" Neji started speaking, but he was interrupted by a louder voice.

"WE WILL WORK WITH YOU. BUT NARUTO UZUMAKI FIGHT ME." Lee had ordered. This surprised both Neji and Tenten. This shows that Lee did not plan this. "Neji acknowledges your skill but refused to acknowledge mine. I want to fight you now to see who is stronger."

"Hey wait." Sasuke stepped forward. "Why would we do that if we are about to become allies?"

"I need to test my teammate's strength. If I am going to trust him with my back I would like to know how strong he is. Is there something wrong with that?" Lee refuted.

"Yeah there is. I won't let you fight." Sasuke stepped forward.

"Why not Uchiha?" Neji also steps forward. "It seems like fun."

"We aren't fighting now." Naruto stood beside Sasuke. "There are still more tests coming so we can fight there."

"Naruto is right for once." Sasuke agreed. "Why would we weaken our alliance when we could meet someone dangerous again?"

"No need to worry." Neji took his battle stance. "I am the strongest thing in this forest."

Naruto also took his stance. "I wouldn't say that. You have never seen us fight."

Sasuke and Lee quickly joined their teammates in their stance. They all knew this was pointless but all of their prides would not let them back down. At the same time they all jumped forward launching an attack at their opponent. However they were all interrupted by a volley of projectiles from above. Tenten had jumped and launched 12 shuriken, 6 kunai, 4 sickles, and a woodcutter's axe all in the space of two seconds.

"That's enough you guys. We can have a FRIENDLY spar after the Chuunin Selection Exams are over, but for now we will WORK TOGETHER." Tenten took charge and ordered the four to stand down. They all stood back up straight and were staring down the others. "Okay, let's go."

XXX

"HEY, WHERE ARE YOU GUYS?!" "RRROOOAAARRR" The group heard a nearby cry followed by an animal's roar.

"Should we go?" Tenten timidly asked. The tension between the four guys was intense. They all had some pent up rage because of the previous encounter.

Naruto glanced at Sasuke while Lee looked towards Neji. They all simultaneously nodded. "Let's go" Naruto took charge and followed the sound. A bear was advancing towards a tree. He couldn't see the girl who yelled before but he hoped she was alright. It was a fair assumption that he wasn't the only one worried as Neji, Lee and Sasuke charged at the same pace as Naruto.

Poor bear. He had no idea what was happening. The bear got hit in the head by Sasuke's hammer kick, chest by Neji's two palm strike, and face by both Naruto's and Lee's roundhouse kicks.

"Agh. She has the Earth scroll. Perfect." Neji walked towards the girl with his battle stance ready. "Now give it or you will get hurt." Tears started to form in the girls eyes.

"That's enough Hyuuga." Sasuke jumped down in front of Neji stopping his advance. Naruto had also jumped down and was next to the girl.

The first thing he noticed was her mid-length crimson red hair and pupil-less eyes. Her messy hair reached the bottom of her shoulder blades, while her fringe covered her forehead protector which was tied in its appropriate location. She seemed to be a ninja from the Village Hidden in the Grass. She was feeling around the ground looking for something. Naruto figured that she was looking for her glasses so he quickly found them for her. He handed her a pair of thick dark brown glasses that he found on the ground. She wore a mesh body suit from her toes to her collarbone. Over that was a camouflage short sleeve greenish-brown jacket with a brown belt tied around her waist. She also wore black shorts. If it wasn't for her red eyes and hair she would be hard to see in the forest environment.

The most noticeable red hair of hers is what surprised Naruto the most. Naruto thought back to a conversation he had with Kurama.

XXX

'_Hey Kurama' Naruto had finished his training for the day and was lying underneath a tree relaxing._

'_**What do you want now, brat?**__' Kurama never seemed to want to talk to Naruto but he always did anyway._

'_You've said before that there aren't any Uzumaki's in this village anymore. Does that mean there are more Uzumaki's?'_

'_**Why do you always ask me stupid things like this?**__' Kurama rolled his eyes. '__** I've been stuck inside of you for 12 years, inside my past hosts since the Leaf Village was created. What makes you think I know?**__'_

'_Well.'__Naruto started pouting. 'Your past hosts were Uzumaki's and… I don't want to be the only Uzumaki.' _

_Kurama couldn't help but sigh. '__**Fine. I'll tell you what I know.**__' Naruto's face lit up. '__**BUT, I tell you only what I want do. DO NOT PUSH ME FOR MORE INFORMATION.**__'_

'_OKAY.' Naruto sat up excitedly. He quickly dived into his mindscape and ran towards Kurama."Please tell me."_

"_**Hmm… Where should I start?**__" Kurama thought for a bit. "__**Okay. Everything I tell you is what I've heard through both of my past hosts. So, the Uzumaki clan use to be a part of the Village Hidden by the Whirling Tides, and this village was on incredibly good terms with the Village Hidden in the Leaves due to the relationship between the Uzumaki clan and the Senju clan. My first host, Mito Uzumaki was the wife of the First Hokage Hashirama Senju. From what I heard, the Uzumaki clan was incredibly skilled in Fuinjutsu (Sealing Jutsu), and they were known for their longevity. Now they lived prosperously on their own island and were protected by one of the strongest villages in the world. But that wasn't to last. They were feared because of their Fuinjutsu and sometime after I was sealed in my second host the Whirling Tides Village was attacked and destroyed along with the Uzumaki clan.**__"_

"_So they're all dead" Naruto's face held a dejected look._

"_**Don't interrupt me brat. Or do you want me to stop?**__" _

"_I'm sorry please continue."_

"_**You are not the only one.**__" Naruto's face lit up. "__**The thing is that the Leaf Village went to recover what was destroyed and the numbers didn't add up. Bodies were missing, there is a chance that whoever attacked them took some corpses to see if they could use their special chakra, but then why would they take civilians as well? There is a high chance that Uzumaki's are everywhere but hiding.**__"_

"_Thank you Kurama." Naruto was hiding his face from Kurama. It was clear that he was crying. They didn't say anything for the next couple of minutes. Naruto had to let the words soak in. He was not the only Uzumaki. "How will I be able to tell if they are Uzumaki's or not?"_

"_**Red hair.**__" Kurama firmly answered. "__**It is a trait only common among Uzumaki's. You missed the gene but most Uzumaki's have it.**__**Both of my previous hosts had it aswell.**__"_

"_Um… Thank you." Naruto smiled at Kurama then he realised something. "Hey Kurama."_

"_**What now?**__"_

"_Whenever we talk about the past you mention your hosts Mito Uzumaki, the First Hokage's wife but you never say anything about your second host."_

"_**Dammit kid. Aren't you stupid?**__" Naruto shyly rubbed the back of his head. "__**Look kid. I told you not to push me for more information. I cannot tell you about her just yet. Maybe when you are older.**__" Naruto was a little confused but he listened to Kurama he didn't want to push him for answers._

"_Okay thanks. I know you'll tell me when you want to." Naruto had his final say and disappeared._

"_**Hump.**__" It was now Kurama's turn to look dejected. "__**How can I ever tell you that my second host was your mother, or the fact that I killed both of your parents?**__"_

XXX

Naruto finally realised he was staring at the girl. Slightly embarrassed Naruto spoke "Oh… um… are you alright?" The girl just sat their dumbfounded. She wasn't looking at Naruto but past him at the person who was protecting her from Neji. Sasuke had instantly caught her attention. "Um… HELLO." Naruto started waving his hand in front of her face. "Not another Sasuke fangirl, isn't there enough already?"

The girl finally realised that she was being talked to. "Oh… I'm fine thanks to you guys."

"What is your name?" Naruto kindly asked.

"My name is Karin." The girl looked a little fidgety being close to Sasuke.

"Okay well Karin-chan. As you have noticed there is more than one team here. We have created an alliance and we want your scroll. So I am willing to offer you a deal. We will try to find your companions and let you join us until we get to the tower if you give us your Earth scroll which is what we need."

"HEY" Neji was not happy with Naruto's words. "Why would we help her when we can just take the scroll?" Lee grabbed Neji's shoulder and shook his head. At this Neji turned around and stayed quiet.

"Ignore him." Naruto continued. "What do you say Karin-chan?"

"Um… It's not like you're going to let me keep the scroll, are you? So, I'll give it to you as long as you leave my team alone."

Naruto turned around and looked back at the alliance. "Okay guys. Let's split up and find her team. When you do grab them and return to this spot. We meet in 30 minutes." Naruto took a quick look at Neji "Do not try anything."

"Wait." Neji spoke up. "I'll find them quickly. Byakugan." The veins around Neji's eyes bulged. Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura stood there confused. What was he doing? Tenten saw this and begun explaining.

"That's his Kekkei Genkai. It's like the Sharingan, but Neji can see anything in a large radius around himself." Naruto didn't really understand the explanation but let it slide. It wasn't worth stressing over.

"I found them." The veins around Neji's eyes stopped as yelled at the nearby bush. "Come out now." The bush rustled but no one came out. They were either scared or still hoping to get the jump on us. Neji reactivated his Byakugan and pulled out a kunai. Naruto quickly dashed towards Neji and grabbed his hand.

"No. They can stay hidden if they want. It seems as though they want to continue the exam." Naruto interjected. "There is no point wasting our time in a fight when we have all the scrolls we need."

Neji tugged at his arm and jumped away. "Let's not waste time then." He was quickly followed by the other Genin except Naruto. Naruto watched them as they jumped away. He could hear two people jump out of the nearby bush.

"Good luck Karin-chan." Naruto said these last words just before he jumped off. He was smiling. It was okay to believe that he's not the only Uzumaki.

XXX

The majority of the journey was in silence and it was obvious why. In this group of six held two clan geniuses, and their hardworking rivals. All of them were itching to see who was the strongest but it was not the time. Not only that Sasuke and Lee were yet to fully recover from previous fights, even Naruto wasn't at full strength. So when they finally arrived at the tower two days early with the required scrolls they were all happy. Their teamwork was over and they finally had time to rest and regain their strength. Neji was the most happy about the end of their alliance since he wasn't able to fight anyone in this forest. Both teams walked into their assigned rooms with their scrolls. It was then that Sasuke finally staggered. The mark on his neck had been hurting him the whole time and he was also unable to use his chakra since it would aggravate the mark on his neck. Sakura quickly jumped underneath him to make him stable. Sasuke quickly waved away Sakura, he was fine.

"So, Sakura. What do we do?" Sasuke asked the most observant member of their team. Sakura was quietly reading the writing on the wall. Naruto couldn't make out the words since his vision was blurring. He was confused as to what was happening to him. He felt unusually exhausted and his chakra was disappearing. It was barely noticeable at first since he had an unusually large chakra reserve, but now it was affecting all of his senses and muscles. He was just hoping that the test was over. Before he realised what was happening Naruto saw Sasuke pull out both scrolls and hand one to Sakura. They looked as though they were about to open them.

"Alright. Let's open them up." Sasuke commanded as the two of them pulled open the scroll to reveal a lot of words on it. Naruto had no idea what they meant but Sasuke recognised what was happening. He quickly grabbed the scroll Sakura was holding and threw them to the floor. A puff of smoke appeared where the two scrolls landed. In the smoke appeared a familiar Chuunin.

Their Academy teacher Iruka appeared. "Hey. Long time no see." Iruka was standing there with his arms crossed as if he was meant to be there. The only thing that met him was the blank stares of three Genin. "Congratulations. All of you pass the Second Test…" Iruka continued to speak but Naruto could no longer hear him since he was too busy falling. Naruto hit the ground hard sending all of the air out of his lungs. Everyone in the room ran towards him.

"To think a chakra freak like him could run out." Sasuke's voice was the last thing Naruto heard before passing out.

XXX

"HEY KURAMA." An echo rang out throughout the sewer-like mindscape. The demon beast within Naruto had finally stopped eating Naruto's chakra. As soon as Naruto passed out he was sent straight to his mindscape where he felt all of his energy rush into the cage. This had never happened before; Kurama always melded his own chakra, but the cleansing of Orochimaru's mark exhausted Kurama especially since he had to fight it through the seal.

"YOU'VE FINISHED EATING SO TALK TO ME." It was impossible for Naruto to tell how much time had passed inside his mindscape. Naruto had just woken up from a nap so he tried to see if Kurama was awake as well. It was obvious that Kurama was still in a deep sleep. The fox was mentally exhausted and it looked like he wouldn't be awake for a long time. Naruto just sighed as he sat back down on the watery sewer. His chakra reserves were almost full again which was good since he still had the Third Test of the Chuunin Selection Exam. The ending tome of the Second Test seemed to be fast approaching even though Naruto couldn't tell exactly when.

"If you ended up this tired from fighting it, then it's no wonder you needed to destroy it. It would have got you as well." Naruto had a while to think about why Kurama had helped him, for a time Naruto had thought that it was because Kurama actually cared for him but now he realised that Kurama was also in danger. Letting out a sigh Naruto stared at the ceiling. He never really looked at it but his mindscape seemed to be very lonely and depraved. Is it because of Kurama's influence that he was like this, or was he lonely and depraved? As Naruto addressed the question he realised than that he was waking up. The pull dragged him out of his mindscape and altered his balance.

Opening his eyes Naruto saw another unfamiliar ceiling. This one seemed to have a warmer feel to it though. It didn't take long to realise that this was a medical facility. Naruto slowly slid up and looked around the room. It was apparently empty. He didn't know what he was expecting. There wasn't anyone who cared for him. He glanced around the room again. It was a small room with the bed he was on, a small bedside table with flowers on it, and a window opposite the door. Thinking about it Naruto realised that the flower was not a part of the room. Someone did visit him. For the first time in a long time, Naruto was happy.

"Hey moron, are you awake?" The door opened to reveal a raven haired boy. Sasuke had come to see him. "Oh good. The Second Test ends in an hour. We've been told to assemble."

Naruto jumped out of bed. "Seriously? Let's go." Naruto stumbled a bit as he got hit by a wave of dizziness but quickly recovered and joined Sasuke. After dismissing the nurses by telling them he was alright, Naruto asked Sasuke a question that had been nagging at him since he woke up.

"Hey Sasuke." Sasuke became visibly annoyed. "Do you know who visited me?"

"No one visited you." Sasuke didn't hesitate to answer.

"Then who brought me the flowers?" Sasuke just shrugged. He didn't know and didn't care. They were approaching their assembly location when Naruto noticed they were still inside the tower. It seems as though those who arrived early were forced to wait here until the end. As they turned the final corner Naruto and Sasuke stood across from a rather unexpected group. Sasuke had no idea who they were but among them was the host of Shukaku the One Tails.

"He's strong." Even Sasuke felt the strength of the short host at their first meeting. It seemed as though that host had a similar thought about Sasuke.

"What is your name?" The host walked up to Sasuke and stared into his eyes. The two other Sand Genin stood behind him in silence.

"Sasuke Uchiha. What is yours?"

"I am known as Gaara of the Sand. It is a shame we haven't met before, we could have fought."

"There is still another test. We may get to fight soon." With this Sasuke turned his back to Gaara and walked into the meeting point. "Are you coming Naruto?"

"I'll see you in there." Naruto watched as Sasuke walked away. When he was out of sight Naruto turned back to Gaara. "I would like to speak with you, Gaara of the Sand."

"I don't care about weaklings." Gaara walked past Naruto and towards to meeting place. His two teammates followed.

Naruto just sighed. "It won't take long. I just want to talk to you about Shukaku." When he said this, the three of them stopped. Gaara turned and gave Naruto a look full of hatred while the other two took off their respective weapons off their back.

"How do you know about that?" The girl with the unknown weapon asked.

"Let's just kill him. No one else is meant to know." The puppeteer was also very eager to fight.

"Hey hey. Calm down." Naruto held up both of his hands. "He isn't the only person with a demon inside of him. I also have a Tailed Beast inside of me." The Sand ninja tensed up even more. They had been seriously underestimating this kid if he was a monster like Gaara. "I just want to know how your life has been."Gaara un-tensed his muscles ignored Naruto and continued to walk away. "Hey don't ignore me. We may not know each other but I believe that we will know each other best. Talk to me." Gaara grabbed his head. It seemed like he was having a headache. Gaara refused to respond to the blond and walked away. His two teammates simply followed. Naruto just stood there and sighed. He was actually curious to see if he was the only host like that.

XXX

"First off for the second test. Congratulations on passing." Anko was speaking into a microphone. The room that they were in was almost empty except for the hand statue making a seal in the front most section of the room and railings on the sides. This room was a hall but was too big for a normal assembly. There were 21 passing Genin who stood lined up in their teams. Standing across from them were a number of Jounin and Chuunin level ninja who had helped in Second and First Tests, including all the Genin teams Jounin instructors. "Hokage-sama will now explain the third test. Listen carefully." Hiruzen Sarutobi was facing all of the Genin. He was wearing his usual Hokage attire.

"Before I explain the coming third test, there is something I would like you to know." All of the first time Genin peaked in interest while the others just feigned interest. "It concerns the true reason for this exam. Why do we have all the alliance countries taking the exam together?" Not waiting for an answer he continued. ""To promote friendship among the countries?" "To raise the level of ninja?" I don't want you to be confused about the true meaning. This exam is…" After a dramatic pause he continued. "…a replacement for war among allied countries."

"What does that mean?" Tenten spoke up in confusion. How could such a simple exam replace war?

"If you go back in time, the current allies were enemies who fought over who would rule. In order to prevent wasteful fighting, the stage that these countries chose for battle that is the origins of the Chuunin Selection Exam."

"WHY THE HELL DO WE HAVE TO DO THAT CRAP? Isn't this thing for deciding who's a Chuunin?" Naruto spoke up in annoyance. It was clear that he didn't care about the hidden agenda behind the tests. He just wanted to rank up. Quite a few Genin silently agreed with Naruto's outburst.

"It is a fact that this exam decides which ninja has what it takes to become a Chuunin. But on the other hand, this exam has another side, where each countries ninjas risk their own life to protect their land's prestige." Naruto quietly backed off after this statement. This was more complicated than he liked. He just wanted to be acknowledged, he didn't really care about the Leaf's prestige. "Watching this Third Exam will be leaders and influential individuals from many countries who make up the clients of the ninja. And the leaders of the countries will also be there to watch of your battles. If the strength of a country is clear, that country will receive more clients, and conversely if seen as weak, they will lose clients. And this will signal to potential enemy countries that "Our village has this much power." So it will send a political message to the outsiders."

It was now Kiba's turn to yell. "YEAH, BUT WHY!? WHY DO WE HAVE TO RISK OUR LIVES IN BATTLE?!"

"The strength of the country is the strength of the village. The strength of the village is the strength of the ninja. And a ninja's true strength is born only through life-risking battle."At this all of the Jounin and Chuunin who had experienced war nodded in agreement.

"This exam is a place to see each country's strength and to show off your own strength. It only has meaning because lives are at risk. And that's why those that have come before you have fought in the Chuunin Exam for this dream that is meaningful."

"But then why do you say stuff about it being for "friendship? " Tenten was annoyed by this contradiction.

"I said it in the beginning. I don't want you to confuse the purpose of this exam. By losing life and establishing balance. This is the shape of friendship in the world of the ninja. Before we begin the Third Test, I will tell you one more thing. This is not just a test, this is a life-risking battle with your dreams and your countries prestige on the line."

"I don't care what it is. Just hurry up and tell us what this life-risking battle entails." Gaara was visibly annoyed. He wanted blood.

"Yes, I'd like to now explain the Third Test but…" Coughing could be heard from directly in front of Hiruzen. A mysterious man appeared.

"I apologise Hokage-sama. From here on, as referee will you please allow me, Hayate Gekkou." Before the man could finish the Third Hokage gave his permission and he turned around. "Hello everyone, I'm Hayate." The man looked like he was dying. He had dark circles under his eyes and appeared to have no energy. He wore a bandana which covered the majority of his head but it didn't stop his black straight hair to fall down around his head. Aside from that he wore the standard Leaf ninja outfit. "Um… before the Third Test there's something I'd like you to do. Um… It's a preliminary for the Third Test to decide who gets to participate in the main event."

The crowd became annoyed at this sudden proclamation. "PRELIMINARY?! WHAT DO YOU MEAN?!" The usually quiet Shikamaru voiced his objections. This was probably because he didn't want to put any more effort in.

"Sensei…" Sakura spoke above everyone else. "I don't understand this preliminary but, why aren't all the people here allowed to participate in the next test?"

"Um… Because the first and second tests may have been too easy this year. We have a bit too many people remaining. According to the Chuunin Exam rules we must have a preliminary and reduce the number of participants for the Third Test. As Hokage-sama indicated earlier there will be many guests at the third test, so the fights could take too long we are limited in time. Umm… So anyway those who are not feeling well… Those who feel like quitting after these explanations please come forward now. Since we will be starting the preliminary immediately."

"WHAT!? RIGHT NOW?!" Once again Kiba yelled but no one took notice to his words.

Everyone was either questioning whether they should quit, or were trying to guess if someone would. The silence was broken by the Genin Kabuto who put his hand up. "I'm going to quit." There was little commotion when he walked off. None of the other Genin other than his team knew much about him.

"Um… There are no more retiring, right?" Hayate questioned to group to see if anyone else would quit. When it was clear that no one else would quit he continued. "Um… Now… Let's begin the preliminary. This preliminary will consist of one on one fighting. You will basically fight as if in a real like confrontation. Since we now have exactly 20 entrants we will conduct 10 matched and… um… the winners will advance to the third test. There are basically no rules. The fight continues until one of you dies or is knocked out or admits your defeat. Um… If you don't want to die then quickly acknowledge your defeat. But when I decide that the winner has clearly been established… Um… Since we don't want to pointlessly increase the amount of corpses, I'll jump in and stop things. And the object that controls your destiny is…" Above the hand statue, a panel opened with an electronic screen appeared. "… is this. This electronic scoreboard will show the match-ups for each battle. Now, this is sudden but let's announce the 2 names of the first fight. Naruto quickly looked around the room to see who his opponent could be. The Genin consisted of himself and his team, Kiba's team, Shikamaru's team, Neji's team, Gaara's team, the sound ninja, and the two of Kabuto's teammates who Naruto had never seen before either. The electronic board was prepairing itself when it finally made a sound. It read:

"_**Misumi**__**Tsurugi vs Chouji**__**Akimichi.**__"_

* * *

**A/N**

This ones coming out a little later than I would have liked but oh well. The next couple of chapters should make up for that. Finally getting into the preliminaries, *gets excited*.

Any questions or comments about this chapter feel free to review of PM.

Signing out Comfy


	7. Change Their Opinion By Force

**_Written by _****_Comfy Cushion_** and betaed by **_Juicy Phoenician_** and Dr. Fabulous.

* * *

The two contestants for the first round stood opposite one another on the tiled floor where they would fight in the Preliminary Round of the Chuunin Selection Exam. Chouji was scared to fight against someone he knew nothing about. He probably would have forfeited if his Jounin Asuma didn't bribe him with BBQ after. Misumi on the other hand was bored. He didn't want to fight against some weak rookie Genin who was out of place in the preliminary rounds of the Chuunin Exam.

The rest of the Genin as well as their Jounin-sensei's were above the soon to be battleground. They were patiently waiting for all the preparations to be completed. Naruto and his team were standing with Team Gai and in between the other two Leaf Rookie Genin teams. To their left were Shikamaru, Ino, and Chouji with their Jounin Asuma. He was a tall man who towered over the other Jounin. He pushed back his short spikey black hair so it wouldn't cover his forehead protector. He also had a short spikey beard. The most notable feature of this man was the cigarette he was smoking. His outfit was the standard Leaf Ninja uniform including the flak jacket. The only difference was a sash with the kanji 'fire' around his waist.

To Naruto's right were Kiba, Shino and Hinata with their Jounin Kurenai. She was a light-skinned slender woman with messy shoulder-length hair, and her eyes were incredibly unusual. They were red with rings inside them. It was very unusual and Naruto couldn't help but wonder if they had an ability like Sasuke's and Neji's eyes. Her outfit was just as unusual as her eyes. She wore a mesh shirt like most female ninja do but on top of that was a material that looked like a giant bandage. She was wrapped in this bandage with a rose thorned pattern over her upper body. She had her right arm covered by a red sleeve but left her left arm revealed. Her hands were wrapped in bandages, and her legs were left uncovered.

Though Naruto could hardly judge either of these Jounin's when his own covered most of his face, and he has met Maito Gai. Kakashi grabbed Naruto's shoulder as he leaned in close.

"I've already talked to Sasuke about this." His voice held a state of urgency. "I don't know what happened to that mark on your arm but do not use its power. If you do I will stop the match." Naruto looked back at Kakashi with surprise. There was no way that Sasuke would have told him about this.

"My one may be dead." It was Kakashi's turn to be surprised. "Kurama said that he was going to kill it. That's why it still hasn't retracted." Naruto looked at his left hand to see the unusual lines all over it.

"Hmmm…" Kakashi had to think for a second. This needed to be reported to the Hokage. "Can you ask the Nine Tails something for me? What exactly happened to the curse mark?"

"Kurama is asleep for now. He has been the whole time I was unconscious. I will ask him when he wakes up." Kakashi nodded at this. He could wait a bit before he told the Hokage. "Oh and I have a question. What happened to Sasuke's mark?"

"A seal has been placed around it. If he uses too much chakra it will activate. He will also be stopped if he uses it." Naruto was about to speak again when Kakashi raised his hand. "It's about to start."

"Um..." Hayate coughed a bit before he continued. "Remember, you fight until one of you is unconscious of surrenders. I will also stop the match if there is a clear winner. Now, please begin." Hayate stepped back and let them both take their stances.

**'This should be fun to watch.**'

'Kurama? You're awake? Since when?'

'**Just then. Make sure you watch these fights, it'll be a good experience.**' Just as Kurama finished talking, Misumi charged towards Chouji at a blinding speed. Chouji hadn't even reacted to the ninja who had grabbed onto his back. Chouji finally realised what was happening and tried to break free of the older ninja.

"It's too late. Now that I have you, you have lost." Misumi's arms appeared to grow longer as they wrapped Chouji in a dangerous headlock. "In order to gather information my body has been altered to be able to fit into any space. So I can keep squeezing until I break your bones. If you don't give up I'll keep squeezing harder." Chouji remained silent while Misumi was talking.

"Hey maybe he should quit. He's lost." Naruto expressed his concern. Shikamaru chuckled a bit.

"His opponent is very unlucky."

"Hey Chouji's in danger. Shouldn't you be worried?"

"It is too troublesome to explain. Just watch." Shikamaru just turned back to the fight.

"DO YOU WANT TO DIE?! SURRENDER ALREADY!" Misumi was at his limit. He didn't want to waste time on a weaker opponent.

"Multi-Size Jutsu." Chouji's body suddenly grew in size. He became even fatter as he was now a sphere with arms, legs and a head. Naruto just laughed. Misumi was trying his hardest to keep Chouji in the chokehold but it was impossible at Chouji's current size.

'**Hahaha. It's over now. It's the fat ones win.**'

"Because you asked me, I'll do the same. Do you want to surrender before we continue?" Chouji was being polite in offering the same thing Misumi did but it felt like an insult to the older ninja.

"DON'T UNDERESTIMATE ME YOU FATASS!"

Chouji's ear twitched. "What did you call me? I don't think I heard you."

"YOU HEARD ME FATASS!" Once again Chouji twitched.

"Oh no..." Shikamaru commented. Naruto noticed that their Asuma was preparing to jump onto the battleground. Something was odd.

"I'M NOT FAT, I'M CHUBBY!" An anger filled aura started pouring out of Chouji as the veins on his face became visible. He was pissed. His arms, legs and head all closed into his body like a turtle. Misumi fell off since he no longer had anything to grab onto. "Human Bullet Tank." Chouji begun to spin at an alarming rate. His body was causing enough friction to cause the ground to smoke.

"What the?" Misumi jumped away from the spinning ball. He wasn't made to fight these things. He was a spy for Orochimaru along with the rest of his team. They had been ordered to test Sasuke and force him to use the power of the curse mark. He was not supposed to lose to some weak unknown ninja like this. But he was not made to be good in battle since he was a spy. He had nothing to stop this spiralling ball. He could do nothing but greet the steamrolling ball head on and get flattened. Chouji slammed into the wall and reversed his spin. He once again ran over Misumi and slammed into the opposite wall. Once again he reversed his spin but this time it was interrupted.

Hayate lifted his arm. "Winner. Chouji Akamichi." As soon as he made this statement Asuma jumped over the railings and grabbed the ball. He lifted it and jumped up to the rest of their team. The medics ran onto the battlefield to peel Misumi off the ground.

Chouji undid his jutsu and pulled out a bag of chips from nowhere. He walked up and stood next to Shikamaru who made no sound.

"YOU DID IT CHOUJI" Ino jumped on the hungry fat man.

"Well done Chouji." Asuma also congratulated the victor. "I guess I do owe you that BBQ." Chouji just continued greedily eating.

'**Make sure you watch every single persons battle style. It helps you improve yourself.**'

'Hey Kurama. What happened with the cursed mark?'

'**That's a longer conversation. We'll wait for that one. But Orochimaru is one crafty bastard.**'

'Wait I don't want to use it. Will it activate?'

'**No. You can't use my chakra nor the marks chakra for your battle.**'

'Good.'

The medics ran off with Misumi on a stretcher. "It is time for the next match." Hayate looked up at the electronic board as the new names started to cycle.

"_**Sasuke Uchiha**__** vs Kin Tsuchi**__"_

Without waiting a second Sasuke jumped down onto the field. He was soon joined by the girl from the Sound Trio.

"We don't know her ability." Shikamaru stated. "This could be interesting. It'd have to be something very strong to fight against Sasuke."

Lee nodded in acknowledgement. "If Sasuke was able to scare off the other two, this girl should be easy." Kin was unconscious for the battle with Sasuke so she had no idea what Sasuke could do. Dosu did say that they would not run so Kin had no choice but to fight, but even Dosu knew that she would have no chance.

"You know you are allowed to surrender." Sasuke had his usual mocking tone. "No one will think less of you."

"Hehe. The same goes for you. Though I think it is best if you don't underestimate me." Sasuke just chuckled as Hayate gave to starting order. Kin quickly pulled something out and threw it at Sasuke. Everyone could hear a bell ring as it threw so Sasuke jumped out of the way. Turning around Sasuke saw that it was a senbon with a bell attached.

"A senbon user." Sasuke stated. If he didn't most of the crowd would not have known what was thrown. Sasuke activated his Sharingan. Once again Kin pulled something out and threw it. A bell could once again be heard around the room. Sasuke bent slightly to the right then quickly spun to the left. "It's a shame. That might of hit anyone else but me. A shadow senbon trick with only one bell. It's a shame that I can see it all with my Sharigan. What else do you have?"

Kin tensed up in frustration. Most people get hit by her shadow senbon trick and she will always hit vitals. She was expecting this outcome but it is still frustrating. But she still had another trick up her sleeve. Tugging on the strings she was holding a bell sound rang behind Sasuke forcing him to turn around. Now was her chance, she thought. Quickly throwing the bell-less senbon she held in her hand, Kin smiled with victory. He may be fast but he's not very smart. Kin watched as her senbon approached the back of Sasuke Uchiha. It was a shock to her when she watched the same senbon lodge themselves into the wall. Sasuke was no longer there. She could hear a bell ring behind her. She quickly turned to see Sasuke holding onto one of her bells.

"It's a shame. I was expecting more from a senbon user. You are nowhere near the most dangerous senbon user I know." Cheers rang out from the crowd. Ino and Sakura were out yelling Sasuke's name as he punched Kin in the gut. She quickly went unconscious. Sasuke let her drop to the floor as he walked away. Medics ran onto the field to see if she was alright. She was carried off on a stretcher.

"Winner, Sasuke Uchiha." Sasuke walked up the stairs and straight past Kurenai's team.

"Good job." Kakashi acknowledged his victory while Sakura and Ino were jumping around him. Naruto just sighed as he looked away. He used to be jealous of him, but for some reason he could no longer feel that. Maybe it's because of his realisation that he no longer likes Sakura, or maybe...

'Hey Kurama. Could that seal affect my emotions?'

'**Um… no. It was never able to. It is similar to my power in that way. We cannot change your emotions but we can amplify them. But now that it's dead it can no longer amplify anything.**'

'But something did happen with it.'

'**Maybe you should stop worrying about the mark and look at the board.**' Naruto completely missed Hayate's announcement of the next round.

"_**Temari**__** vs Zaku Abumi.**__"_

The girl from the Sand was standing opposite the taller guy from the Sound. Naruto had missed the pointless banter between the two. Temari stood with her weapon at her side. She stood confidently and didn't even move when Zaku pointed both of his arms at her.

"GET BLOWN AWAY!" Zaku yelled at her. "Decapitating Airwaves" A blast of wind blew out of his arms and went straight towards Temari. She just smiled. Opening her weapon which turned out to be a fan she quickly sent her own wave of air at Zaku. The two winds cancelled each other out leaving nothing but still air in the centre. Temari once again took her confident stance with her closed fan.

'**This should be a very interesting battle.**'

'Why is that? Isn't it a "who has the stronger wind" battle?'

'**That is not entirely true. Not that you would have noticed, but that girl controlled the direction of her wind with her chakra. Tell the Uchiha to activate his Sharingan.**'

"Hey Sasuke. Why don't you watch these matches with your Sharingan? Wouldn't that help you get stronger faster?" Sasuke looked at Naruto in surprise. The idiot was right. Sasuke activated his Sharingan and looked at the battlefield again.

"Do you really think your wind is stronger than mine?" Zaku once again lifted his arms and charged his next attack.

"Why do I always end up fighting idiots?" Temari just exclaimed as she opened her fan again. Once again both of them sent their attacks which cancelled each other out. "If you didn't notice then, you have no chance of beating me."

"Oh… Did you notice that last time Naruto?" Sasuke asked. "Is that why you wanted me to activate it?"

"Notice what." Naruto was confused. Kurama was the one that noticed. So he had no idea. The other Genin were listening in curiously.

"That girl Temari is using her chakra to control the wind, while Zaku is using his chakra to increase the strength of the wind. Zaku cannot stop the wind from going anywhere, he has no control. While Temari can decide how fast, where and how much wind she wants to attack with. If she wanted to she could have won in the first attack." Everyone nodded in acknowledgement. Temari was only playing around.

"So, all she needs to do is split Zaku's wind with her own and attack there, right?" Tenten said. "Jeez. I would have had no chance if I fought her." Tenten knew that her fighting style would lose to controlled wind.

Zaku was getting angry. None of his attacks would break through her wind. "I'VE HAD ENOUGH." Zaku charged all of his chakra into his attack.

Temari looked back. "You guys might want to move." She had warned the Chuunin and Jonin watching from that position to move. They just laughed as they stayed stationary. "Suit yourself." Temari turned back and opened her fan completely. She was keeping it open for the fight time which allowed everyone to notice the three purple dots on its cover. She was going to attack seriously if she had opened it completely.

Zaku had finished charging his attack. "EXTREME DECAPITATING AIRWAVES" He sent a torrent of wind towards the now ready Temari. She lifted her fan and waved it with all her strength. Her wind quickly formed into a twister headed by a sharp blade of wind. The blade easily cut through Zaku's attack forcing it to part into two. Each side attacked Chuunins and Jounins behind Temari. Some of them had to block while others just stood motionless. Temari's twister hit Zaku head on and forced him up into the air. The twister was cutting into his front while flying him through the air. He had completely underestimated her. The twister finally disappeared as he begun to fall. He no longer had control of his body as he landed straight onto Temari's closed fan.

"Too easy." She threw him off it as she walked back to her team. Zaku was unconscious as he was lifted off by the medical team.

'You know, you can tell me these things yourself.'

'**I made you look smarter than what you are. Shouldn't you be thanking me? Actually speaking of thanking, shouldn't you be showing me more respect? I am your elder by a long time.**'

'Oh please. You're more of a child then I am.'

'**You're the one throwing tantrums every second day.** **Just because you've had a sad life doesn't mean anyone else cares.**'

'I know that Kurama.' Naruto started to look dejected. 'No one cares about me.'

'**Oh get over it brat. What about the person who left flowers? There is at least one person.**'

'Do you know who that was? Wait how did you know about flowers?'

'**Ummm... I was awake at the time. You were unconscious because I was still eating your chakra.**'

'So you know who it was. Tell me.'

'**Um… Well you see… No time. Look at the board.**'

"_**Naruto Uzumaki **__** vs Dosu Kinuta**__"_

The hunched Sound ninja jumped onto the field as he waited for Naruto to join him. In the last two rounds his two teammates were easily defeated. He could not stand for this insult. He would win this and become a Chuunin so Orochimaru would respect him.

"YAY. It's my turn." Naruto jumped up in joy.

"Hey Naruto." Lee called out to him. "Be careful. This guy is no joke." Chouji and Kiba nodded. Even Sasuke could tell this guy was stronger than his teammates.

"Do I look like a joke either?" Naruto asked. Did everyone still think so little of him?

"Yes, you are a joke Naruto." Kiba couldn't help but answer. "You are the worst ninja here. If it weren't for Sasuke you wouldn't be here in the Preliminaries."Naruto just sighed as he jumped down. He didn't care what they thought.

However, Sasuke did not let what Kiba said slide. "Hey Kiba. As much as it pains me to say this, Naruto is no joke either. I would have died more than once if it weren't for him."

For the first time throughout the whole Preliminaries Neji spoke. "That's unfortunate. I wanted to fight against him now. Looks like we'll have to wait for the Third Round. Isn't that right Lee?"

"Naruto is stronger than they realise. He stood up after four of your attacks. But this guy is also very strong. This match will be filled with the flames of youth." Lee smiled in anticipation. Gai and Kakashi smiled at the Genin's conversation. They themselves had fought in this exact room for the title of Chuunin. It was wartime and there were no other villages but Kakashi became a Chuunin after he triumphed over Gai. It was then that they became eternal rivals.

Naruto had walked up to Dosu with a sour look on his face. He wasn't very happy with the outcome of that conversation.

'**Hey kid. They underestimate you, so change their opinion by force. If you become Chuunin over everyone else's defeat you have shown that you are the strongest.**'

'I know.' The dejected look didn't leave Naruto's face. It was getting harder for him to keep up his façade.

"Hey. Save the sad look for when you lose. It's more enjoyable that way." Dosu attempted to provoke Naruto. But Naruto just covered his face with his hands. When he removed them he had the biggest grin on his face.

"You're going to lose." Energetic Naruto was back. "Shall we begin?" Naruto didn't want to make the crowd aware of his internal struggle. But Dosu took this the wrong way.

"DON'T MOCK ME." Dosu was pissed. "THE SOUND VILLAGE IS NOT AS WEAK AS YOU THINK." Naruto jumped back a bit in surprise.

Hayate stepped forward. "Um… Start."

Naruto instantly jumped back to make as much distance as possible between him and his opponent. Dosu didn't move. Naruto quickly made two clones and got them to charge towards Dosu.

"Oh… Is that your plan?" Dosu jumped forward and broke one of the clones with ease. His Taijutsu was stronger than a clone's. Since a clone had a smaller chakra capacity proportionate to the chakra used in their creating they could not fight as well as the main body. Dosu sent his right arm towards the other clone. This time the clone managed to dodge the attack, but the sound of Dosu's attack penetrated his ears causing it to collapse and disappear. "You avoid my sound attack by not fighting yourself. It doesn't matter if your clones can't beat me." Dosu stepped back in surprise when he saw the real Naruto collapse onto one knee. He didn't do anything.

"What happened?" Sakura asked. She looked around to see the blank faces on everyone else. Kakashi was the only person who knew what had happened.

"I thought it was like that. I rarely use the Shadow Clone Jutsu myself. This will be a good learning curve for Naruto."

A similar conversation was happening inside Naruto's head. 'What the hell? Why am I dissy?'

'**Hmmm… I do know what's happening. But there is no fun in telling you. Good luck.**'

'Hey Kurama.'

'…'

'Kurama what's happeneing?'

'…'

'KURAMA GOD DAMMIT TELL ME.'

Dosu had finally gotten over his confusion. "Hey. Weren't they clones?"

Naruto finally stood back up. "Yes they were. What the hell did you do?"

"I don't know what happened but it wasn't me. It looks like your plan was a failure from the beginning." Naruto once again made two clones but only attacked with one. Dosu just laughed as he pulled the sleeve on his right arm all the way back and swung the attack at the clone. The clone managed to block it. The clone smiled as the sound smashed into its ear. It fell to both knees, threw up and then disappeared in a puff of smoke. The real Naruto and the other clone fell to both knees and threw up as well. They both felt as though their balance was out of whack. Dosu used this opening to charge at Naruto. Naruto saw this coming and jumped away from the oncoming Dosu, while the clone jumped in between them forcing Dosu to change targets. This clone was dispersed with a punch rather than the sound.

"Something's weird." The Genin all started listening to Lee as he spoke. "When I blocked the attack I threw up as well, but I couldn't move properly after. Naruto could move fine."

"Did you tell Naruto about your fight with him?" Kakashi was told about what happened in the forest by Sakura and Sasuke. After a nod from Lee Kakashi continued. "It's time to see how smart Naruto really is."

Naruto and Dosu were once again standing across from one another. Naruto can't just go charging in without finding out why he gets dizzy when his clones do. Dosu was trying to show how much he dominated over is opponent in an attempt to reinstate the Sound Villages pride.

"If you aren't going to attack. I will" Dosu finally leaped towards the real Naruto. Naruto jumped onto the wall behind him and made ten shadow clones around him. He got all of them to disperse to different places around the battlefield. Dosu ignored all the clones and went straight for the real Naruto who was still making the hand sign. Dosu was running up the wall when he flung his right arm in an arc towards the real Naruto's head. Naruto ducked under it as he took his all-fours stance. The sound hit Naruto's ear but it didn't stop him from leaping down the wall. His head smashed into Dosu's gut and they both tumbled to the ground. The attack finally got to Naruto as he threw up next to Dosu. The slightly disgusted Dosu jumped away.

"That's disgusting. Turn the other way next time." Dosu seemed to be unfazed from Naruto's attack. He was hiding the tremendous pain he was in. Naruto's full body blow as well as gravity hurt a lot.

"I'm sorry. I couldn't stop myself." Dosu remained silent as Naruto remained flat on the ground. He was trying to regain his balance.

"I'm not letting you do that." Dosu charged at the defenceless Naruto. It seems like he forgot about the 10 clones who all charged at Dosu. They seemed to be unfazed by the real Naruto's strife. Dosu quickly jumped back and defended against the barrage of attacks, dispersing any clone when he got the chance. All of the clones managed to avoid his sound attacks by dispersing themselves if they were going to get hit by it. It seemed like the real Naruto planned to prevent further damage from clones. By the time Dosu had dispersed the last Naruto clone, Naruto was standing again.

'Okay. I don't know why I get affected by my Shadow Clones like that, but I do know how to fight him.'

'**Oh? Show me then. Win this fight.**'

'Okay.'

Dosu was getting annoyed. Twice now has he tried to defeat this Leaf Ninja but twice now he has defended successfully. This ninja got the curse mark from Orochimaru but wasn't one of his targets, which means Orochimaru wasn't interested in him. Why does some unknown weak Leaf Genin get the curse mark but he doesn't? So he wanted to show how strong he was compared to this weakling, but he couldn't win. He was trying but the Leaf ninja wouldn't fall.

Once again Dosu charged at Naruto. This time he would win. He had to. Naruto once again put his fingers together and made two clones. But this time those clones put their hands together and made two more clones. This continued until there were 30 Naruto's standing across from Dosu.

These 30 charged to meet the oncoming Dosu. Four of Naruto's clones attacked first but none of them hit as Dosu sent his counterattack punch with his left hand. One of the waiting Naruto's jumped in to parry the attack as one of the attack Naruto's jumped out. The Naruto's continued to cycle as they helped each other avoid Dosu's attacks.

All of Dosu's attacks were either parried or dodged completely. That was the same Naruto's attacks. No one could hit an attack, and the sound wasn't hitting either. Dosu was confused. It had been the third time that he sent sound into a Naruto's ear but it didn't work. What did he do?

Laughter could be heard from the crowd. Sasuke was laughing. "I didn't think Naruto could be so smart." Neji was curious enough to activate his own Byakugan, his cousin Hinata did the same. Neji couldn't hold back his smirk while Hinata cheered.

"Go Naruto." She shyly cheered to the surprise of the rest of her team.

"Wait what's happening?" Sakura asked in confusion. She had no idea what was happening.

"Do you hear it, Lee?" Gai asked.

"Yeah." Lee grinned. "Not all of them are Shadow Clones."

The back and forth between Dosu and Naruto continued for a while. Dosu had no time to think since he was fighting too many opponents for him to handle. The sheer number made their weaknesses unnoticeable. Every time he saw an opening another Naruto stopped his attack, and every time he revealed an opening two Naruto's would pounce. He was barely managing to hold his own against the rampage that was Naruto Uzumaki.

WHACK.

One of Naruto's attacks finally hit. The shock from the hit made Dosu recoil. That was more than enough time for a Naruto to hit an attack. This continued for a while. Dosu was not able to defend himself properly anymore nor could he leap away from the bombardment. Every second attack was hitting him, yet none of his would. What could he do? What could help him win?

Dosu then thought of a plan. The chance of it working was slim but he had no choice. Ignoring the continuous hits to his body, Dosu retreated until his back was against the wall. Pretending to be cornered, Dosu left an opening for a KO hit that may be his only chance at victory. Falling for his trick a Naruto charged for the attack, however halfway through he changed his mind and started to retreat. Dosu's right arm came swinging around. The chakra controlled sound barely reached the Naruto's ear causing him to falter. Dosu failed missed the hit that he wanted, however he noticed something in the corner of his eye. A smile appeared on his face. The Naruto's had backed off slightly which gave Dosu enough room to move. Two Naruto's realised what was happening and charged as well. One of the Naruto's launched a punch at Dosu's face while the other swept a kick at his legs. Normally Dosu would have jumped back to avoid both attacks, but this time he ignored the punch as he jumped above the kick. The punch fazed through his face but didn't touch Dosu at all. The Naruto who kicked raised his arms up to protect his face as Dosu used his right hand to punch him. The sound made that Naruto fall to the floor just before he popped in a puff of smoke. The Naruto who fazed through Dosu disappeared without smoke.

"Very clever. I almost lost." Dosu spoke as half the remaining Naruto's collapsed to the floor while the other half disappeared. "I should not have underestimated you. You are a part of Sasuke's team. I never would have thought that you would mix in normal Clones with your Shadow Clones. If I didn't see one of them almost fadeout of existence I would of lost."

"Dammit" One of the Naruto's couldn't help but comment. All the Naruto's felt completely out of synch. Their balance was completely off. Dosu walked up to the clone that spoke and kicked it in the gut. It disappeared into smoke.

"Oh? I thought that would have been the real one." Dosu casually walked over to the next one and punched the ground. Rather than a physical attack, he'd use his sound to affect them all. The targeted Naruto popped but the others slumped to their stomachs.

'Dammit. I was so close.' Another Naruto popped.

'**We'll it was a good plan. It's a shame, if you were strong then that plan would have been used successfully**.' Dosu continued to walk from clone to clone popping them.

'Thanks for the vote of confidence Kurama. But I haven't given up yet.'

'**Suit yourself. You have a strong will, it doesn't make you strong.**'

'Look, everyone is eagerly watching. I can't lose now. Wait a second.' Naruto looked up. In front of him there were two sprauled out Naruto's and the Sand trio on the balcony. 'How did I know they're eagerly watching?'

'**Hahahaha. Well done.**' The Naruto that was conversing with Kurama lifted his arms into a seal and popped himself. As soon as this happened the other Naruto's lifted themselves up. Dosu walked back in surprise.

"You shouldn't be able to move. Heck. You should be unconscious." Dosu was confused and panicking. No one has ever taken that many hits from his arm and survived.

"I understand why you are confused. Do you know what is so special about Shadow Clones? Do you know what they share with the original and other clones? Well you shouldn't, I just figured it out myself. Memories. The answer is memories. What a clone remembers is passed onto all other clones and the original. Neither the pain nor physical damage are transferred, just the memories. When you burst a clone with your sound attack, the memory of that pain is enough to send off my balance. But if I consciously block out the memory I realise the pain isn't there. Now there is nothing you can do. You have lost."

Dosu stood in shock. How could he lose? No. He hasn't lost yet. Dosu charged towards the speaking Naruto and punched it in the gut. Dosu was expecting it to be the real Naruto but it burst into a puff of smoke.

"Oh and by the way." The Naruto directly behind Dosu spoke. "The real me will not draw any attention to himself by speaking." Dosu was hit by a fist to the side of the head. The attack hit his temple sending him unconscious.

The crowd stood in silence. They were watching the unmoving Naruto in awe. Somehow the least likely to succeed Naruto had defeated one of the top contenders.

"Winner. Naruto Uzumaki." As soon as Hayate finished his announcement all the Naruto's jumped up in celebration.

* * *

**A/N**

And Chp7 done. I do have to apologise, it has been a lot longer than I expected. I am sorry that you had to wait so long for the preliminaries to start, but here you go.

The reason for the long delay is because I have two story ideas that have made it to the final stage of planning, that is the part where it is no longer just an idea but a fully fleshed out story. I have two half chapters on my computer for these stories so expect a new one uploaded soonish.

Aside from that, how did you like the chapter? Why don't you leave a review and tell me?

Signing out Comfy Cushion


	8. I'm Going To Destroy Him

**_Written by _****_Comfy Cushion_** and betaed by **_Juicy Phoenician_** and Dr. Fabulous.

* * *

The Naruto's finally stopped their fake cheer and turned into a massive lump of smoke. The only thing left was the original Naruto who started to walk up to his team. On his way Hinata stepped in front of him. She was holding out a jar filled with some kind of medicine.

"Um... Na..." Hinata was struggling to force out the right words. Naruto held up his hand to stop her.

"Thank you for the gesture, but you should save it for your team. None of you have fought yet." Naruto understood what Hinata wanted, but he couldn't figure out why. Hinata must have been a really nice person if she was going to offer him something that her team may need more of. But it was confusing because she offered him and not anyone else who had fought before. Naruto started walking away from the dejected Hinata but stopped to say one last thing. "Thanks for cheering for me, Hinata-chan." With this Hinata turned into a bright red to the amusement of Kurenai. That was the first time Naruto had addressed her like that.

"Good job, Naruto." Kakashi was the first in the team to congratulate Naruto. He was shortly followed by Shikamaru, Chouji, Lee and Tenten. But much to Naruto's dismay, Sakura kept quiet. Even Sasuke offered a nod of acknowledgement, but for some reason Sakura ignored the victorious ninja. Before anyone could continue the electronic board had chosen the next two fighters.

"Thanks guys." Naruto once again smiled at the group.

"But when did you get so strong?" Chouji decided to ask. "I mean. You were the weakest in the academy. And now you won against that Sound guy. Wouldn't that make you one of the strongest?"

"HAHAHA." Kiba walked over once he overheard that statement. "Naruto? Strongest? That's funny you fatass." Chouji twitched as Kiba continued. "He got lucky. There is no way he'd be able to beat me."

"Hey hey. That's enough Kiba. Don't you know that the dog with the loudest bark has the weakest bite?" It was Sasuke who spoke up. Naruto noticed that Sasuke was doing this more and more often. It must be because they were on the same team.

"Say that after you beat me." Kiba barked at Sasuke. "You also got lucky. Those Sound ninja weren't very strong so don't get arrogant." The short dog inside Kiba's hoodie yapped in agreement.

"If you are so confident Kiba, win your match then make it to the next round." Naruto calmly responded to all of Kiba's provocations. "Sasuke and I will be there. You better win after your grand statement."

"Sure. I'll get there easy." Kiba walked away with a sour look on his face. He just hoped he didn't have to fight the Sand ninja with the gourd.

Naruto wasn't really interested in what Kiba had been saying, he just wanted the conversation to be over so he could ask Kakashi something. "Um… Kakashi-sensei." Kakashi who was pretending to be asleep lifted his head up.

After a fake yawn Kakashi responded "Hmmm…?" Sakura and Sasuke just sighed, their Jounin was an idiot.

"Did you know that Shadow Clones share memories when they burst? You know how to do Shadow Clones and you have been doing them for longer." After a brief pause Kakashi answered.

Kakashi said one monotone word. "Yes."

"Then why didn't you tell me?" Naruto clenched his fists. He was holding in his urge to yell at this teacher but nothing good can come from that.

"I wasn't 100% sure. I had a hunch but it wasn't anything certain. I didn't want to tell you something that could have been wrong."

Naruto's palm started bleeding. "Then why not test it? I've been using them for a while, and if we tested it we could have known."

"It's not like you haven't been getting the benefit of them anyway. Your battle experience is greater than all the other Genin's in this room purely because you make 20 or so clones when you fight."

"But…" Naruto was cut off by Hayate.

"Um… It's time for the next match. Will the two competitors come down." Everyone looked towards the board simultaneously as the names appeared.

"_**Shikamaru Nara vs Kiba Inuzuka**_"

"How troublesome." Shikamaru couldn't help but voice his complaints. Kiba on the other hand seemed excited.

"Lucky. We've already won. Eh, Akamaru?" Akamaru yapped in agreement as Kiba cheered to himself. He knew that Shikamaru was far too lazy to fight seriously. Kiba didn't even know if Shikamaru could fight.

Naruto leaned closer to Shikamaru. "Can you do me a favour?" Shikamaru just looked bored. "Can you win this match? After his big mouthed comments it would be hilarious if he lost."

Shikamaru sighed. "I really don't care about this. Do you think they'd let me surrender now?" Asuma stepped forward and tapped his shoulder.

"Hey. Chouji got through to the next round so you have to as well. If not, you're paying for the next three BBQ's. Oh and Naruto, would you and your team like to join us?"

"Tch…" Shiikamaru just looked down. He knew how much it would cost him to pay for those three meals. "How troublesome. I'll fight properly." Shikamaru casually walked down the stairs and towards the battlefield. Kiba was already standing there waiting for him.

"Your taking your time, you must be scared." Kiba began the pointless banter part of the battle. Shikamaru was not impressed.

"Kiba, we both don't want to waste time with this battle, so can you go all out from the beginning. Let's finish this quickly."

"You're going to regret saying that." Kiba threw a pill into Akamaru's mouth. The white dog changed colour until he was a dark red. Then he threw the same pill into his own mouth. "You don't want to waste time? Then fall over straight away."

"Hey." Naruto couldn't help but ask. "Is he allowed to use the dog and those pills?"

"Yeah, Akamaru and the soldier pills are considered as ninja tools." Kakashi was the one to answer.

Kiba got down on all fours as Akamaru jumped onto his back. Putting his hands together Kiba formed a seal. Akamaru barked something at the same time as Kiba spoke. "Imitation Beast Ninja Art: Human Beast Clone." Akamaru burst into a puff of smoke and another Kiba appeared on top. Kiba's appearance also changed a bit to make him look more animal-like.

'Hey isn't that what happens to me when I use your power?'

'**It's similar. But not the same.**'

"All-Fours Jutsu." Both Kiba and Akamaru charged towards Shikamaru at the same time. Shikamaru had already pulled out a kunai and swung it at the oncoming attack. Shikamaru was hit by both attacks and was sent flying. He crashed into the back wall. The two Kiba's stood side by side. "See, you can't do anything. This is our win. Eh, Akamaru?" The one on the left spoke while the one on the right barked in agreement.

To the surprise of everyone except his team, Shikamaru picked himself up. "This is troublesome. That hurt."

Kiba laughed. "Don't act so tough. Even in the academy you were weak. There is nothing you can do to win."

Shikamaru smiled as a reply. "I thought I said to not hold back."

"You're dead." Kiba was getting very annoyed. He knew Shikamaru was weak yet he held his arrogant attitude. "Fang Over Fang." Both Kiba's started to spin at an incredible rate as they approached Shikamaru. The two spiralling tornadoes smashed around Shikamaru, barely missing their target. Shikamaru avoided both of the attacks. The two spirals turned around and once again tried to attack him. Once again they missed, but Shikamaru was put into a bad position. The two spirals refused to let up their attack as they once again charged Shikamaru, who could no longer avoid both of them.

What happened next came as a surprise. One of the spirals suddenly stopped spinning to reveal a motionless Kiba. A split second after this, the other spiral smashed straight into Shikamaru sending him flying. What was even more surprising was the fact that the stationary Kiba did the same. The spiral stopped spinning to reveal another Kiba. Naruto just stood there wide eyed. What the hell happened?

Shikamaru pulled himself up and brushed off the dust on his shoulders. He was clearly in pain but he refused to bow to it, that or he was too lazy to acknowledge it. Shikamaru was rubbing his shoulder as he stood over the defeated Kiba. It was clear that he was the winner but the majority of the audience had no idea why he ended up victorious.

"I guess I should explain. How troublesome." Shikamaru put his hands in his pockets as he started explaining. "I know about the Inuzuka Clans main technique which involves high speed rotation of both you and your dog. Using my Shadow Imitation Technique you are forced to make the same shape with your body as me. This caused your internal organs to crush themselves since they were still moving high speed while you were not. The trick was to figure out which one of those spinning attacks was you. To do that I made sure to cut your sleeve during your first attack." Naruto was astonished at Shikamaru's strategy. Was he always that smart?

**'He appears to be smart but incredibly lazy. It would be fun for you to fight him.**' Kurama couldn't help but comment. **'He must plan 20 or so moves ahead to make up a risky strategy like that. You are going to have to be smart if you ever fight him.**'

'To get so much praise from you. He must be good.'

'**Of course I enjoy a smart man like him. I mean my current host is an idiot.**'

'Hey.' While the two were talking internally, the medical team picked up Kiba and ran him off the battlefield. Shikamaru was walking up to his team.

"Congratulations." Naruto was the first to greet him. "Since when were you so smart?"

"He's smart but lazy." Ino jumped forward and congratulated her teammate. "Looks like I have to win now." Ino grinned cheekily as she looked Sasuke's way. Naruto rolled his eyes. Ino was annoying when she goes into fanboy mode. In other words she is always annoying. Chouji pulled out a packet of chips and started to eat them. He offered one to Shikamaru who was leaning against the railing. He joined Chouji in eating. Naruto was watching the two of them. Chouji didn't congratulate Shikamaru nor did Shikamaru congratulate Chouji. Naruto couldn't understand why they didn't. Aren't they friends?

'**That is what best friends do. No words are needed. Actually it might be past that point, the trust the two of them have with each other is rare.**' Kurama had guessed what Naruto was thinking.

'It must be nice.' Naruto looked down dejected.

'**Hey hey. Don't be depressed. The next match is up.**'

Kurama was right as the next matchup was on the electronic board.

"_**Kankuro vs Tenten**_"

"Good luck Tenten." Naruto wished the girl luck. She smiled in reply as she jumped down to the battlefield. Her opponent was already waiting.

Surprisingly, Sasuke was the next to speak. "Hey Hyuuga. Are you not going to tell her?" Sasuke and Neji both had their eye powers activated.

"As much as she tries she is still a born loser. Even Lee is stronger than she is. She can't keep up with us even with our help." The words of the arrogant Neji pissed Naruto off for some reason.

"There is no such thing as born losers." Kurama's chakra started to flow into his system.

'**Hey brat. Calm down or you will lose control.**'

Neji smirked at Naruto's words. "The cries of a loser."

If it weren't for the start of the match, Naruto might have lost control.

"Victory goes to the swiftest." Tenten jumped up high into the air as she pulled out two scrolls. They unravelled showing multiple seals. Tenten waved her hand over most of these to reveal weapons which were all flung at the stationary Kankuro. He had dropped his wrapped puppet in surprise. He could do nothing but get hit by 6 shuriken, 4 kunai, 3 scythes and a gardening hoe. Naruto couldn't question the hoe as it was effective enough to bury itself in Kankuro's face.

"He didn't even dodge." Naruto muttered under his breath.

"You didn't have to kill him." Sakura was surprised. For such a one sided battle she thought that Tenten overdid it. Tenten gracefully landed with a smile. She won with ease. She began walking towards the motionless Kankuro to retrieve her weapons.

Hayate lifted his arm. "Winner..."

Before he could finish the motionless Kankuro stood up and charged towards Tenten. "It's not over yet." The voice didn't come from the moving Kankuro, but from the motionless puppet. The speeding Kankuro reached Tenten before she could react. His arms and legs wrapped around her in an abnormal way. It was as if his limbs grew longer and had flexible joints. Not only that but, the weapons that were lodged into Kankuro were also digging into Tenten. It was then that Naruto realised. From the conversation in the hallway to the current battle, Kankuro was wrapped up in bandages on the puppets back. He had swapped places with his puppet.

"What's happening?" Sakura was still behind.

'Isn't she meant to be the smartest female ninja in our year? How slow is she?' Kurama laughed at Naruto's thoughts.

**'Like you can call someone stupid.**'

The bandages unwrapped to reveal the real Kankuro. Sakura gasped at this, which caused Naruto to face palm. "I suggest you surrender. Unless you want me to break you." Kankuro arrogantly proclaimed her loss.

Tenten pulled out one of the kunai that was lodged in the puppet and prepared to throw it at Kankuro. But just before she could, the puppet squeezed tighter and broke her arms.

"Argh!" Tenten's scream of pain rang out in the room.

"Surrender or I will kill you." Kankuro was not bluffing. The room was filled with killing intent.

Before anyone could say anything to stop him, Gai appeared next to Tenten and pulled the puppet off her with lightning speed. "That's enough."

"Winner Kankuro." With a click of his tongue, Kankuro walked up to his team with puppet in toe.

"She should have surrendered. Not giving up is a weakness not a strength." Even though it was his teammate who just lost, Neji badmouthed the loser. The medics ran on and quickly took Tenten away. She was moaning in pain.

"Is that what you didn't tell her? You knew that Kankuro and the puppet swapped places didn't you?" Sasuke nodded his head at Naruto's outcry. "You are a pathetic excuse for a ninja if you refuse to help your team whether they need it or not. You have no right to wear the same headband as me." Once again Kurama's chakra started to flood Naruto's system.

"Then why don't you stop complaining and take this headband off of me." Neji's arrogant voice sent Naruto over the edge. Neji was grinning. 'There is no way a loser like him can defeat me. If he tries something I will simply kill him.' Before Neji could prepair his stance, Naruto disappeared from his sight. "What!?" Neji had yet to activate his Byakugan so he couldn't see the unusual chakra increase Naruto's speed. He also missed Naruto appearing to his right side and trying to claw at his face.

A wind blew in between all the Genin as two high speed movements blasted through the area. Kakashi and Gai grabbed Naruto's shoulders holding him back. All the Leaf Jounin in the room stood back in shock. The Hokage just smiled. Naruto could use the Nine Tailed Foxes chakra. The minimal amount of Kurama's chakra quickly diminished and Naruto calmed down.

'**I told you I didn't have much chakra.**'

"That's enough Naruto. You can fight another time." Kakashi laid down the law. Naruto had no choice but to back off.

"Don't provoke a fight when you still haven't had your match." Gai was also telling off Neji. "If you two want to fight, save it for later. We can organise a spar." Both Naruto and Neji had no choice but to agree to this sanctioned fight.

"I'll be back. I'm just going to cool down." Naruto turned his back to his Jounin and walked towards the exit. He looked up at the electronic board and saw the next match up.

"_**Ino Yamanaka vs Sakura Haruno**_"

Naruto chuckled a bit. It's a Sasuke fanboy vs Sasuke fanboy matchup. This match will be terrible. Good thing he was going to miss it.

XXX

'**Hey brat. You sure you don't want to watch your teammates match? She may not be the nicest bitch to you but she still is an ally. You should at least support her.**' Naruto had left the tower. He would much rather sit in a forest that was out to kill him then in that room full of people who hate him.

'She doesn't want my support. As long as Sasuke is there she will be fine.' Naruto was sitting on the branch of the closest tree. The fresh air was helping him cool down, but it wasn't the only thing. Kurama was too tired to be his normal self. Naruto noticed that the Kurama he had been speaking to was the real Kurama. Kurama pretended to be an uncaring observer to the world, but he actually cared about what transpired around him. The outside Kurama and the real Kurama were two different people. Naruto knew this because he was the same way. The outside him was a happy-go-lucky ninja who was filled with enthusiasm. When the outside Naruto got tired he cared less about the people around him, but that was still the mask. Naruto was afraid of the real him who was hiding behind to mask. If he let that Naruto out, he may never be the same person again.

'**You say that but how do you feel? You use to love her didn't you? Emotions like that don't instantly change.**'

'Don't worry about it Kurama. Besides we have a more important matter to deal with. The mark on my arm, what happened to it?'

'**If you say so.**' He was definitely tired. '**Okay, first I should explain how the mark actually works. It absorbs natural energy from the surroundings and adds it to your own supply which greatly increases your chakra reserves. This normally would not be a problem if that bastard Orochimaru didn't make it to corrupt people. The mark corrupts the natural chakra making it only usable when negative emotions are felt.**

**But that is not all. Orochimaru inserted his own DNA into it. So even if his main body dies, he can still be revived as long as these curse marks exist. You don't need to worry about that though; I've already removed all of the cells.**

**Everything I have said so far is the mark's first form. However, when I tried to remove it, it evolved into a second form. I wasn't able to push as much chakra as needed through the seal so I must have given it enough time to realise that it was dying which triggered it to evolve. However, since Ororchimaru's cells were dead it needed something else to complete the evolution. It took my cells to replace Orochimaru's.**

**It is not dead but you now have a conscious choice to use it or not. I don't know specifically what effect it will have but when you flood your chakra into it something will happen. Don't test it now though. Wait until after we are out of this forest.**'

'I don't think I got all of that.' Naruto started scratching his head. 'Can you say it again?'

'**Which part?**'

'Um… All of it.'

'…'

'…'

'**ARE YOU KIDDING!?**' Kurama rubbed his temples with his paws. '**Look. I'll simplify it that a monkey could understand it. Curse Mark is bad. Not completely dead. Flood chakra later to see what do. Do you understand?**'

'A little.' If Kurama had arms he would have strangled the boy in an attempt to cleanse the world of stupidity, but he couldn't. 'I know I'm not the smartest but you said a whole lot of complicated words.'

'**THE MOST COMPLICATED WORD I SAID WAS 'EVOLVE! 'COMPLICATED' IS A HARDER WORD TO UNDERSTAND THAN THAT! YOU ARE A SPECIAL KIND OF STUPID!**'

'It looks like you finally have your energy back.' Naruto was getting serious. There was something on his mind. 'I'm coming in.' Naruto entered his mindscape, to appear in front of the cage. "Yo." Naruto lifted up his arm.

"**What do you want?**"

"You are hiding something from me." Naruto had planned what he was going to say. "It hasn't been long since we started talking to each other but I can tell that you are a very closed off person. You try to distance yourself from me in order to keep neutrality towards me just in case you have to end up killing me in order to escape. That much I understand, but you are also a kind and caring person who will look after someone else if they looked after you." Kurama was intently listening. He was curious to where the kid was going with this.

"I don't know about your past, or how the world has treated you, but it is obvious that you were treated similarly to how I was. No one cared for who you really were; they only saw you as a monster. I know we both are the same because the village thought that I was you. Kurama, there is no need for you to hide things from me. You know everything about me and help me through things whether you admit it or not. There is something specific I would like to ask, and I hope that you can answer me. You always avoid talking about your second host. All you have said is that she was an Uzumaki and she was the Fourth Hokage's wife. She was my mother wasn't she?"

At this Kurama finally responded. "**I can't tell if you are stupid or smart.**"

"Don't hide it anymore Kurama."

After a moment of silence Kurama decided it was time for Naruto to be told. "**Yes she was your mother. I am the reason she is dead. To make matters worse, I tried to kill you once I realised what your father, the Fourth Hokage was trying to do. Both of your parents got in the way so I stabbed both of them with my claw. I didn't want to tell you because you are the only person who talks to me as a person since I have been sealed. It's okay if you hate me now, I won't speak again.**" Kurama looked down in sadness. As much as he refused to admit it, his conversations with Naruto were his only enjoyment in his forsaken cage.

Naruto looked at Kurama as if he just said something incredibly stupid. "Hate you? Why would I do that? You may have killed them but anyone else would have done the same if they were going to be sealed in a newborn baby." Kurama was stunned. He did not expect this type of reaction from a twelve year old. "Besides, we share the same body. If the only thing stopping us from being friends is something that cannot be changed then who cares about it."

Kurama felt as if a weight had been lifted off of his shoulders, but he would never admit it. "**Do you really think that we can be friends? You are a pathetic human who I would love to be able to eat.**"

"Oh… looks like your tsundere side is back. Anyway let's go back and watch the match." Naruto quickly disappeared from the mindscape.

"**I'M NOT A TSUNDERE BRAT.**"

XXX

Naruto arrived to see the two Sasuke fanboys fight still going on. It had been over 10 minutes but it appeared to be closing. Ino was unconscious on her knees and Sakura was slightly hunched over. Sakura started to raise her hand.

"I Sakura Haruno would like to…" Sakura clearly had the upper hand but she was going to forfeit. What the hell happened while Naruto was away?

"HEY SAKURA!" Naruto screamed out. "IF YOU CAN'T EVEN BEAT AN UNCONSCIOUS ENEMY, WHAT MAKES YOU THINK YOU CAN KEEP UP WITH SASUKE AND I?! ARE YOU REALLY THAT PATHETIC?!" The whole room looked towards Naruto. Naruto continued to walk up to where the Genin were, pretending to be disinterested in the rest of the fight. Sakura grasped onto her head as if she was in pain.

"What is it? Do you want to forfeit?" Hayate asked in order to get the rest of the sentence out of the girl.

"FORFEIT?! LIKE HE I'LL FORFEIT!" Sakura's scream echoed across the room. By then Naruto had reached his team.

"Yo." Naruto casually lifted his hand in a wave. "What'd I miss?" Sasuke couldn't help but smile. Naruto arrived at the perfect moment. Kakashi pulled Naruto back. He quickly gave him a rundown on the fight so far. From what Kakashi said, the two of them fought with techniques and ninja skills for the entire 10 minutes. Ino had trapped Sakura and used a Mind Body Switch Jutsu to invade Sakura's mind to make her forfeit. Naruto's words gave Sakura the will to fight against it. Naruto looked back at the fight to see Sakura and Ino preparing one final attack. They both charged at each other and launched a punch at the others head. Both of them were sent sprawling.

Hayate took a moment before he made his decision. "Both fighters are unable to continue, this is a double knock out. The 7th Preliminary Match has no winner." The crowd was surprised by this outcome. None of them could have guessed this to be the end of the match. Kakashi and Asuma quickly jumped down and grabbed their Genin. The two of them were now resting behind the crowd while they waited for the announcement of the next mach. It wasn't long before it was announced.

"_**Yoroi Akado**__**vs Shino Aburame**_"

Both participants wasted no time in walking onto the battlefield. Before Hayate or anyone else could say anything, Yoroi charged at Shino and tried to punch him in the chest. However his attack was caught by Shino. The two of them stood grasping onto one another, until Shino realised something. Almost instantly he jumped backwards.

"It is rude to not wait for the announcer to start the match." Shino calmly spoke. Whatever he realised it mustn't have concerned him.

"Hehehe. There is no need to wait when we both were ready. But I must say, you jumped away at a good time. You realised what was happening to your chakra." Yoroi arrogantly spoke. He wasn't talking to Shino as an opponent, but he was talking to Shino like he would an animal. "Hehehe. When I touch you, I will be absorbing your chakra so you might want to run." Once again Yoroi charged at Shino. Shino merely took the attack and was sent rolling along the ground.

"That is good advice." Shino picked himself up and continued to stare at Yoroi through his sunglasses. The next part was a little bit weird by Naruto's standards. An army of bugs started to crawl along Shino's face. And little did Yoroi know but they were amassing behind him as well. "I shall give you some in return. These bugs that I have are called Kikaichu (Parasitic Destruction Insects). They are currently gathering behind you. I advise that you don't walk backwards."

'WHY WOULD HE TELL HIM?'

'**I don't know. Just watch.**'

"Bugs? You think bugs can stop me?" Yoroi seemed to be getting agitated. "That's pathetic." Yoroi just walked forward towards Shino who didn't move a muscle. Rather than move, he was entirely covered with bugs. The sight was rather unnerving but everyone still watched.

"What is he?" Lee couldn't help but ask. Neji and Sasuke who had deactivated their eyes during the last fight decided to reactivate them. What Neji saw was very unsettling.

"What a guy. I can understand summon bugs, but bugs are living throughout his body." Neji spoke.

"If you are not afraid of bugs why do you not attack me? Bugs are my clan's specialty, at birth we make our bodies a nest for these bugs and we nurture them. So you should have no problem in defeating me." Shino continued to speak like nothing was happening. Yoroi was incredibly close now; if he reached out he would be able to touch Shino. But before he did he fell forward. Bugs started to crawl from out of his clothing and back onto Shino. "I forgot to mention that they eat chakra. They were on you from the first attack. You should always have a trump card."

"Winner, Shino Aburame." Shino casually walked back up to his team while the medics ran on to grab the unconscious Yoroi. It seems that his chakra levels weren't that high so it didn't take long for the insects to eat it. Hayate seemed to be making up for the long Sakura vs Ino battle by shortening the waiting time, the next match was already displayed.

"_**Neji Hyuuga vs Hinata Hyuuga**_"

The Leaf Jounin in the room all acknowledged how this should be an interesting battle. Two members from the same clan are going to battle it out. However, Kurenai seemed a little uncomfortable. Hinata being left to the final four wasn't much of an issue, but her opponents were at an incredibly high level.

"I never thought I'd be facing you, Hinata-sama." Neji was the first to break the silent standoff.

"Neji-niisan." Hinata barely managed those words.

"Oooh… are they siblings?" Sasuke decided to speak.

"They are members of the leaf's oldest and greatest blood line. The house of the Hyuuga clan. But they aren't siblings." Kakashi decided to do the Jounin-like thing and answer.

"What are they then?" Sakura asked.

"Hmmm… well they are members of the Hyuuga clans "Main House" and "Branch House. You could say…"

Naruto interrupted Kakashi. "Main house, and branch house?"

Lee took it upon himself to continue. "YES! Hinata-san is a member of the Hyuuga Main House. While Neji carries the Hyuuga blood but is in a lower house."

"So they are cousins then? That makes fighting difficult." Sakura thought she understood everything, but she was slightly off.

"Neji's eyes aren't that of a family member. I have seen those eyes before. He will show no mercy to her." Sasuke looked intently at Neji. Naruto understood exactly what he meant. He was referring to his brother Itachi.

"You are right. Many things have happened between the houses over the years, and right now they do not get along together very well." Sasuke started looking straight at Lee, as if he was asking for him to continue. "I don't know everything, but it is normal for old houses to have many rules established in order to protect the Hyuuga bloodline by putting the main family in an advantageous situation which causes the Branch Houses to feel snubbed." Sasuke looked back down to the match. Both Kakashi and Naruto could tell that this match may be more important to Sasuke than the rest were.

"Now. Begin the match." Hayate walked away from the two.

"Before we begin the fight, I'd like to say something Hinata-sama. You don't make a good ninja. Forfeit now. You wish for harmony and avoid conflict. You agree with others never resisting and you have no confidence in yourself, I always feel your sense of inferiority that's why I thought it would be best for you to remain a Genin." Naruto was getting angry at his words. Kurama's chakra once again started to flood his system at Neji's words. He might of said something if Neji was finished, but he continued to talk. "But the Chuunin Exams can only be taken as a team of three. You couldn't turn down your teammates request and unwillingly entered, this is reality. Am I wrong?" Neji asked a question. Naruto's features had now changed to become more fox like. He was about to yell out when he saw something from the corner of his eye. Sasuke's crossed arms appeared to get tighter, was Sasuke also angry at his words?

"N…No…I…I just wanted…" Hinata was struggling to force out the words. "wanted… to change myself… Do it… myself…" At those words Kurama's chakra stopped. Naruto had calmed down with those words. She was fighting for herself, just like a ninja should.

"Hinata-sama, as I thought, you are a spoiled brat of the Main House. People cannot change themselves!" Naruto jolted in surprise. He knew Neji was an evil bastard but this was too far. "Losers are losers. Their personality and strength will not change. Because people cannot change, differences are born. Expressions like elite and loser are created. Looks, brains, ability, size, personality. All people judge and are judged in these values. Based on these unchangeable factors, people discriminate and are discriminated against, and they suffer within their own means. Just like the fact that I am from a Branch House and you are from the Main House cannot be changed. I have seen through many things with this Byakugan, so I know, you are just acting strong. Deep inside, you just want to run away from here."

Neji wanted to continue but he was interrupted by laughter. The loud laugh rang across the room. Looking behind him, Neji saw the source of that laughter. It was coming from Sasuke Uchiha. "Hahahaha. Who is the one running away? Hinata stands in front of you ready to fight, yet you are the one who is trying to make their opponent forfeit. The irony is quite funny." Sasuke stopped laughing and got serious. "You are right, the terms elite and losers were created so people can discriminate against others, but you don't seem to understand how little the difference is. If it was impossible to change between the two then why do people try so hard to match someone else. It is not impossible for a loser to catch up to an elite. Isn't that right Naruto?"

"DAMN RIGHT! DON'T GO DECIDING THINGS ABOUT PEOPLE IDIOT!" Naruto was glad for Sasuke's words. It seemed to have knocked Hinata out of her trance. She was now looking more determined than ever.

"So you won't forfeit? I'm not responsible for what happens." Neji shrugged off Sasuke and Naruto's words.

"I no longer want to run away. Byakugan." Hinata activated her eye and took a stance against Neji. "Neji-niisan, we fight." Naruto had seen that stance before. It is the same one that Neji takes when he fights. And true to Naruto's thoughts Neji copied Hinata's posture.

"I thought so, she uses the same Hyuuga style. Her stance is exactly like Neji." Sakura questioned what he meant. "The Leaf's strongest Taijutsu style. The Leafs strongest Genin is most likely Neji Hyuuga." Sasuke understood what he meant. Each clan had certain techniques that were only shared among the clansmen. The Hyuuga style must be one of them for the Hyuuga clan.

"We'll have to wait and see if he's the strongest or not." Naruto stated. His eyes were glued to the two Hyuuga's staring off. The silence was deafening as the entire crowd waited for them to move. Suddenly Hinata quickly approached Neji, hands at the ready. The set of blows that followed could only be called magnificent. Naruto had never seen anything like it before. Hinata tried to hit Neji with her palm but he pushed it away while sending his own palm towards Hinata, who also pushed it away. This continued for a while, and to someone who had no idea about how they fought it looked like the two of them were dancing. Naruto was entranced in its beauty. Hinata eventually broke him out of the trance with a solid palm on Neji.

"She got him?!" Sakura half asked half stated.

"No, not deep enough." Naruto said in reply.

"No, a slight touch is enough. That's what makes the Hyuuga clan so great." Lee refused to take his eyes of the battle.

"He's right. Both of them have chakra flooded into their hands. They're attacking each other's 'inner coils system'." Sasuke stated. His Sharingan were watching every movement as the two Hyuuga's continued their dance.

"That is the special Taijutsu that the Hyuuga's pass down. The Gentle Fist style."

'**By the way, the inner coils are a system that spread chakra throughout the body. They surround organs and that is what the Gentle Fist style attacks.**'

'No one asked you.'

'**You seemed clueless.**'

"Wait how can they do that?" Sakura asked. "The inner coils aren't exactly visable."

"With the eyes of the Byakugan you can see them. The gentle fist is a perfect style for those with that eye." Kakashi answered. Once again Hinata landed a hit on Neji. From the corner of his eye Naruto could see Shino slightly lean forward. Even the emotionless Shino was reacting to this fight.

"What a scary bastard. He wasn't bluffing when he calls himself elite." Sasuke's comment confused those around him. Only Kakashi realised what he meant.

"It can't be…" Kakashi watched the next exchange of blows very carefully. Hinata had gained the upper hand and used her left palm to go for a winning strike. Neji saw this and used his right arm to push her arm up, and while doing that he used his left palm to strike Hinata's chest. Hinata managed to block the chest attack but she wasn't wary of the other attack. Kakshi thought that Neji might have been attacking with his blocking palm.

Kakashi's theory was confirmed with the next exchange. Going for another finishing blow Hinata left herself a little bit open which gave Neji enough of an opportunity to hit her. Hinata coughed up blood.

"No way. So from the beginning." Hinata was equally as surprised as everyone else there.

"Exactly. My eyes can even see the 'opening points'." Neji's overconfident tone seemed to annoy Naruto even further.

'**By the way, 'opening points' are the points where chakra is exerted from. So when you mold chakra for jutsu you use these points.**'

'I DIDN'T ASK KURAMA!'

'**Sorry, just thought you were amazingly stupid. Wait a second, you are amazingly stupid.**'

"Not even my eyes can see those." Sasuke's voice held a hint of frustration. To him Neji is a symbol of his older brother who would show hostility to his own family for the purpose of measuring his capacity. "Dammit."

Neji pushed Hinata away. "Hinata-sama. This is the difference of talent that can never change, the difference that divides an elite from a loser. This is the reality that cannot be changed. At the point you said 'I do not want to run' you were setting yourself up for regret. You should be overcome with desperation right now. Forfeit."

Hinata struggled to force herself to her feet. Naruto just watched as she looked straight towards him. "I never knew Hinata was this incredible." Naruto watched in awe as Hinata retook her stance.

"Heh." Sasuke just smiled. "Of course you would say that. She's just as persistent as you are."

"Oh yeah." Sakura felt the need to input. "She was always watching you." Naruto jolted at this. When was she watching him? Naruto looked back down at the determined Hinata. However Hinata could not keep that gaze. She coughed up more blood from just standing there.

"Neji's 'opening point' attacks have completely shut down her chakra flow. So basically she can no longer do her Gentle Fist attacks. This match is over." Kakashi proclaimed the match as over.

"HINATA!" Naruto's yell shook the room. "ARE YOU HAPPY TO END IT LIKE THIS?!" Hinata smiled at Naruto's outburst. She reactivated her Byakugan and once again went blow for blow against Neji. However due to her injuries she overstepped slightly. This caused her to miss an attack giving Neji the perfect opportunity to palm her in the chin. Hinata recoiled but refused to fall. With one last desperate attempt Hinata charged. The blow she received from Neji sent her sprawling along the floor.

"You don't understand anything. Form the beginning your attacks have done nothing." Neji begun to walk away.

Hayate begun to call the match. "Continuing is impossible and thus…"

"HEY REF! ARE YOU WATCHING THE SAME MATCH?! IT ISN'T OVER!" Naruto yelled.

"For once the dope is right." Sasuke agreed and to everyone's surprise Hinata stood back up. Naruto walked over to where Shino and Kurenai stood.

"You might want to stop it now. She might die if you don't." Kurenai looked down at Naruto with surprise. She had no idea how a Genin from another team knew better about her own Genin than she did. But it wasn't time to think Naruto was right. Kurenai quickly Shunshined (Body Flickered) down in between Neji and Hinata.

"This battle is over. You did well Hinata." Hinata collapsed without uttering a word of retaliation.

"Winner, Neji Hyuuga." Hayate quickly called allowing the medics to run in. By then Naruto had used Shunshin to reach Hinata. Lee and Sakura quickly followed. Naruto looked down at Hianta as she fell unconscious. Her heart was barely beating. This angered Naruto.

'Hey Kurama. How is your chakra reserves?'

'**20 seconds of one tail form, 3 minutes and 20 seconds of non-cloak.**'

"HEY NEJI!" Naruto roared. "Right here. Right now. I will show proof that your way of thinking is wrong. I can't wait until later. WE DO THIS NOW!" Naruto started walking towards Neji when Lee jumped in the way.

"Naruto-kun, I understand your feelings so much that it hurts. But the fighting should occur in the matches." Lee was right but Naruto didn't care. "Whether a loser can defeat an elite through the power of hardwork. That is something to look forward to in the main test. Though his opponent might be me. But even if it's you Naruto-kun there will be no hard feelings."

"I'm sorry Lee. But Neji, after the last match we will have a quick spar. How does that sound to you?" Naruto was barely holding back his rage to store up Kurama's chakra but he couldn't hold it forever.

"Heh. Okay then. Two minutes is all I need to show you why destiny cannot be changed."

"I'll beat you in one." Naruto said. By that time the medical team was lifting Hinata up and taking her away. "I'm sorry Lee, but I can't watch your match. If I stay in the same room as Neji any longer I might not be able to control myself." Lee nodded his head in acknowledgement. "Sasuke, please tell me how the last fight goes." Naruto walked off after Hinata and the medical team.

XXX

Naruto was sitting beside Hinata as she lay down in a hospital bed. Her heartbeat was back to normal but she was wired up just in case. The damage Neji caused would take a long time to heal. This aggravated Naruto even more.

"I'm going to destroy him." Naruto silently whispered to himself. What was wrong with him that could cause him to become so arrogant? Even Sasuke wasn't that bad. Although their problems may be two entirely different issues. Naruto was so lost in thought he didn't see the hand that grabbed his own. "Hinata?"

Naruto leaned in to listen to what she had to say. "Neji… niisan…is suffering… The destiny… of the main… and branch… houses… make him ache… Naruto… you helped me… please… please help Neji-niisan." Hinata started coughing. She had forced those words out. She was looking deep into Naruto's eye trying to gain some sort of promise.

Naruto wondered why Hinata was thinking of helping Neji when he was the one who put her in this sorry state. Naruto thought about it and realised that Hinata must feel responsible for it. "I'm sorry Hinata. I cannot be the one to save him." But Naruto would not be able to quell his anger. It might be because he can freely use Kurama's chakra as a result. "But if it is what you want. I can get someone else to do it." Hinata smiled as she passed out once again. She was forcing herself to stay awake so she could give Naruto that message. She must really care for him.

A knock came at the door. "Yo, Naruto. The match is over. Gaara won." Sasuke's voice came through the door. Naruto quickly jumped up and left Hinata's room.

"Is Lee alright?" Naruto asked as they walked towards the battlefield.

Sasuke pondered about whether he should tell Naruto or not. The fight was a tough one. "I will tell you, but don't let it get to you. Last thing we want is you distracted when you fight against Neji."

* * *

**A/N**

Chapter complete. I hope you all enjoyed it, please tell me your thoughts. It has been brought to my attention that my story summary does not match the fic itself. Does everyone else agree with this? If so I might have to change it. ANYWAYS look forward to the next few chapters.

On a completely different note, Kingdom Hearts 1.5 REMIX came out and I CAN'T STOP PLAYING IT! I might need some professional help... And that is why the other fics I mentioned last chapter will take longer be uploaded. (Sorry, but it's Kingdom Hearts.) But look on the bright side, the three of us have been planing a KH crossover with anime world's instead of Disney and this is fastening that along. So look forward to that as well.

Signing out Comfy Cushion


	9. The Flaws In Your Logic Are Despicable

**_Written by _****_Comfy Cushion_** and betaed by **_Juicy Phoenician_** and Dr. Fabulous.

* * *

"Now, let the 10th and final match begin." Hayate waved his arm then quickly moved back. The final two participants, Rock Lee and Gaara of the Sand stood facing off in the centre of the battlefield. Lee was in his Taijustu stance while Gaara stood straight with his arms crossed. This final match should be an interesting one to watch. Sasuke Uchiha had activated his Sharingan before Hayate begun the match. He was starting to run out of chakra but in order to copy as much skill as he could he needed to watch these two fights.

Suddenly, Lee leapt towards Gaara at an alarming rate. "Leaf Whirlwind." Lee launched an incredibly fast kick at Gaara. Sasuke could keep up with the speed with his Sharingan, but most of the weaker Genin were struggling. The kick would have hit Gaara if not for the sand that came flying out of the gourd. The sand got in the way of Lee's kick stopping it mid trajectory. The sand then continued to fly around Lee in an attempt to catch him. Except Lee was fast enough to jump away. Sasuke was astounded. Gaara was controlling that sand remotely and he made it flow like water. This Gaara was incredibly strong.

This didn't stop Lee, who charged forward. He continually changed his route in order to confuse Gaara. If he couldn't keep up with Lee then he could land a hit. Finally deciding to attack Gaara's right side, Lee charged forward with both a punch and a kick, however both of them were intercepted by sand.

"Lee-san's movements are having no effect…" Sakura stated. And she was right. Gaara hadn't even moved from his starting position yet. Once again Lee tried running around and hitting Gaara from a different direction, but once again he failed. "Why is Lee-san only using Taijutsu? This close-range combat is tough, he should fight from a distance with Ninjutsu."

"It's not that Lee doesn't use Ninjutsu." Gai spoke without taking his eyes off the battle. "He can't use them. Lee has almost no skill for Ninjutsu or Genjutsu."

"What?" Sasuke stuttered in surprise. However his voice was overpowered by Sakura's yell.

"NO WAY! Then how did he get this far?"

"When I first met Lee, he was nothing. He had no talent at all. So the only techniques left for lee as a ninja are Taijutsu. There aren't many ninjas who can't use Ninjutsu or Genjutsu." Gai continued to keep a confident smile while talking about Lee's lack of skill. Sasuke continued to watch as Lee narrowly avoided three sand arms which grew form the ground.

"Lee's hiding something, isn't he?" Sasuke noted. He could tell Lee wasn't going all out. Lee was now standing on the stone hands seal next to the electronic board.

Gai just smiled at Sasuke's words. "LEE! TAKE THEM OFF!" Gai lifted his left thumb as if to encourage Lee.

"BUT! BUT GAI-SENSEI! THAT'S ONLY FOR A TIME WHEN I MUST PROTECT MANY PRECIOUS PEOPLE, ISN'T IT?!" Lee saluted his Jounin.

"IT'S ALRIGHT! I'LL ALOW IT!" Gai's smile sent a shiver down Sasuke's spine. Their happy mood was very off-putting. Lee sheepishly laughed as he pulled down his leg warmers to reveal weights underneath. Without wasting time he pulled off both of them and held one in each hand.

"ALRIGHT! NOW I CAN MOVE EASIER!" Lee dropped both of the weights off the edge of the stone hands. Most of the people in the room just looked on with doubt. How much of a difference could two weights make? That was until those weights hit the ground. They broke through the ground and created a dust cloud that reached higher than the balcony.

"LEE! GO!" Gai ordered his Genin to resume his attack.

"YES!" As soon as Lee said this he disappeared. Sasuke saw a blur run around and arrive behind Gaara. He and Neji were the only Genin who could see that movement. Gaara looked behind him to see the fist be stopped an inch from his face. If the sand didn't move automatically, Gaara would have been hit. Before he could regain his composure, a kick just missed his face, and another fist was narrowly stopped from the back of his head. Gaara could no longer properly keep up. Sasuke could watch the movements but if he had to fight he wouldn't be able to defend himself fast enough. Gaara was intently looking all around him barely following Lee's attacks.

"He can't use Ninjutsu or Genjutsu. That's why he spent all his time on Taijutsu. He worked hard and concentrated everything on Taijutsu." Gai looked down at Lee like a proud father looked down at their son. "Even if he can't do any other Jutsu, he won't lose to anyone. He is a Taijutsu specialist." While he was saying that Lee had leapt into the air. The crowd could see where he went but Gaara had lost him completely. This gave Lee enough time to drop an axe kick. Gaara was looking around when he was met by a foot to his cheek. Lee slid away after landing the first hit of the match, while Gaara slid his feet apart. He could no longer hold his overconfident stance.

"We're just getting started." Sasuke was amazed by Lee's fighting capability. His Taijutsu was on an insanely crazy level, and Neji was supposed to be stronger. Neji's only advantage is his ability to hurt his opponent internally. Lee on the other hand was fast enough for Sasuke to be unable to clearly see where he was going. He was a force to be reckoned with.

"LEE! EXPLODE!"

"YES!" Sasuke might have been disturbed by that little conversation if he wasn't too busy watching Lee's next move. Lee instantly disappearing from sight while a blur appeared behind Gaara, Lee was trying to hit him from behind, but Gaara saw this and lifted up his sand. However, Lee wasn't actually there. He had completed a full circle around Gaara and launched a punch at his face. Gaara didn't even see it coming and was sent flying.

Sasuke watched as Gaara picked himself up. The place where Lee had hit Gaara peeled off his face and underneath that was a crazy smile. That smile sent a ripple through Sasuke. An abnormal twisted aura appeared around Gaara. Lee also seemed to feel this and got more attentive. Gaara was crazy and Lee was in trouble. Gaara was grinning like a lunatic as he lifted sand up and wrapped it around himself. From the very beginning, Gaara had an armour of sand to protect him. His defence seemed unbeatable. Sasuke could hear conversation around him, but he was too absorbed in this fight to listen.

"Is that all?" Gaara had finished covering himself and was now back to his normal form. The smile had disappeared but the aura remained. Lee was deep in thought. If none of his attacks would work what could he do. Sasuke just watched as Lee looked up to his Jounin then smiled. Did he have another trump card? He began unwrapping his bandages. Lee started to run circles around Gaara.

"Hurry up and come." Gaara was getting impatient. But that might be his loss. Sasuke's Sharingan went overtime has he watched Lee leap inside of Gaara's sand shield and kick Gaara into the air. Sasuke had seen Naruto use this move but not to this extent.

"AS YOU WISH!" Lee yelled out just as his foot collided with Gaara's chin. "IT'S NOT OVER YET!" Lee leapt up and barraged Gaara with a continuous assortment or kicks. Gaara's sand tried picking itself up off of the ground the keep up with Lee. Sasuke watched as Lee and Gaara hit an outrageous height from those repeated kicks. When Lee flinched in pain, Sasuke realised that this technique was a double edged sword.

"NO, LEE!" Sasuke yelled out when he saw what Gaara did, but it was too late. Lee had wrapped his bandages around Gaara and began spinning at a frightening rate as they both plummeted to the ground.

"INITIAL LOTUS" The two of them crashed into the ground, causing the field to break into pieces. Lee came flying out of the rubble as he ejected last second. Gaara was left in the crater.

"LEE-SAN WON!" Sakura's cheer was loud enough to snap Sasuke out of his trance. Sasuke just shook his head.

"That wasn't Gaara." And true to his words the Gaara that was in the crater broke into pieces. It was a sand clone. Lee was struggling to stand, but Gaara showed no mercy. He slowly appeared out of the sand directly behind Lee and made a seal with his hands. The aura surrounding him had become even more malicious and a wave of sand built up behind him and charged after Lee. The sand pushed him into the wall and hit him again. Lee could barely move due to the Initial Lotus. Sasuke watched as Lee struggled to avoid Gaara's attacks. It seemed like he could do no more.

The crowd watched in torment as Lee barely avoided any fatal strikes, just have to avoid the next. Lee's eyes managed to reach the crowd. Sasuke wasn't sure what he saw but his eyes changed. He was easily able to avoid the next attack. Lee just retook his stance and smiled, he was ready for another bout.

"You are finished here." Gaara proclaimed his victory. Sasuke couldn't see any other way for Lee to win this. He had already shown two separate trump cards, to have another would be simply ridiculous.

"Either way, this will end." Although Sasuke thought that, he could tell that Lee wasn't finished. Sasuke could once again here conversation around him, but he was more interested in what was happening inside of Lee. He noticed it before but wasn't entirely sure, but now he could say for certain that the amount of chakra he had inside of him was increasing. Lee closed his eyes and crossed both of his hands in front of his face. Sasuke once again started listening to the conversation behind him.

"Gai, how many of the Eight Celestial Gates can that kid open?" Kakashi seemed to be a little agitated.

"Five Gates." Gai wasted no time in giving his response. Kaksahi was shocked at that proclamation.

But Sasuke needed more context. "Kakashi-sensei, what are these Gate's and are they causing his chakra to spike?"

Gai started to answer. "It's the Limit Removal that is done in preparation for going into the Extreme Lotus."

Kakashi continued. "In the Inner Coils of the body that chakra flows through are eight spots. The Initial Gate, the Heal Gate, the Life Gate, the Harm Gate, the Limit Gate, the View Gate, the Wonder Gate, and the Death Gate. These are known as the Eight Celestial Gates. These eight gates are constantly working to limit the amount of chakra that flows in the body; the Lotus forcibly releases these restraints using chakra. It allows you to release ten times more power than usual, even as the user's body destroys itself."

"So that's why his chakra is at a whole other level. Lee is amazing." Sasuke could only watch as Lee's chakra took another spike.

Sasuke counted that as the third gate. The colour of Lee's body changed into a deep red as his veins appeared all over his body. A thin visible green aura appeared around Lee. Chakra started to seem out of his opening points causing him to leave behind a stream of chakra. It looked like Lee was forcing himself. "HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" Sasuke once again saw the spike. The aura was more visible and his surroundings could no longer handle the pressure. Sasuke's Sharingan wasn't strong enough to see exactly what happened next but the next thing he saw was Gaara being launched into the air. Kakashi, Gai and a couple of the other Jounin were probably the only two people in the room who could follow every single movement.

Gaara was kicked higher than before and the sand couldn't keep up. Lee appeared in front of Gaara's face and hit him away. Gaara was sent flying like a missile, but before he could hit anything Lee appeared behind him and hit him in another direction. This continued for a while but the armour of sand wasn't getting destroyed. Sasuke saw another spike of Lee's chakra. This was the fifth gate, meaning Lee was now at his strongest. Lee came down from above at an inhuman rate sending Gaara flying straight into the ground. However, Lee wasn't finished. During his punch, Lee managed to wrap his arm bandages around Gaara and pulled him up at that inhuman speed. Gaara was flying up at that speed while Lee was flying down.

"EXTREME LOTUS" Lee kicked and punched Gaara with the force of both speeds which caused the Gaara to rocket down and smash into the ground. The already broken stone floor was smashed into even more pieces as the dust cloud rose from Gaara's landing point. Lee crashed down once his gates were reclosed. His body must be in extreme pain. The dust soon settled to reveal that Gaara was lying in a pile of sand. The gourd that was on his back had turned to sand cushioning his fall. He wasn't completely uninjured by he was okay enough to latch onto Lee's left arm and leg with his sand.

Lee tried to jump away but Gaara clenched his fist. "Sand Coffin" Lee screamed out in pain as the sand crushed Lee's limbs. Gaara continued to send sand towards the now immobile Lee, but before he could do any more damage Gai quickly batted it away. He had protected his Genin. Sasuke had deactivated his Sharingan but was lost in thought. Lee was this much of a monster, and still acknowledges Neji as stronger. How far behind was he? Even Naruto seems to be growing at an alarming rate, how can he keep up? He needed to get stronger quickly to be able to avenge his clan, but he was still getting left behind by other Genin.

Before Sasuke could spiral even more he saw something which made him question whether he was dreaming or not. Lee had gotten back up, but he was not conscious. Even while unconscious, Lee would still protect his way of fighting. Sasuke couldn't help but smile. He was nowhere near this guy's level, but he didn't care. Gai pulled the unconscious Lee in and hugged him. Everyone in the room was astounded at Lee's impressive feat.

When the medical team ran on, they had some bad news. Lee's arm and leg were permanently damaged and Lee would have to stop being a ninja. This was a big shock to all of the Leaf ninja who had watched the fight. Lee stood out as a shining gemstone in the rubble. His work ethic was inspirational, and he was only a Genin. He had so much room to improve, but it was cut short because of an unlucky matchup.

XXX

The broken battlefield now had two different people standing across from one another. Naruto seemed to have no emotion, while Neji held his normal arrogant attitude. All of the foreign ninja left as soon as Hayate and the Third finished explaining what was going to happen for the Third and Final Chuunin Selection Exam that will be held in a month from now. That month was meant to be used for understanding your enemies and training. All of the victors pulled out a number from a box. This was meant to decide who will fight against whom. The format for the fight are one on one knockout matches where the loser is eliminated and the winner progresses. The order goes like this.

Due to the uneven numbers the first row of matches is just one single match.

_**1:Naruto Uzumaki vs Shikamaru Nara**_

The second row of matches consist of four matches

_**2:Kankuro vs Shino Aburame  
3:Sasuke Uchiha vs Neji Hyuuga  
4:Gaara vs Chouji **__**Akimichi  
5: Temari vs W1**_

_The third row consist of two matches_

_**6:W2vsW3  
7:W4vsW5**_

_And the final round is fairly obvious._

_**8:W6vsW7**_

_They were also told that every single one of them could become Chuunin. It would all depend on their individual ability and whether they impress certain members of the crowd. But Sasuke had to put that out of his mind because right now his teammate was fighting his first opponent in the finals._

_"Before we start I have something I would like to ask you Neji." Naruto spoke clearly. He had been in that emotionless state ever since Sasuke had told him about Lee's fight. He had no idea what was going on inside Naruto's head. "What is your opinion of Lee after his fight? Did he not show you that hard work can overpower an elite?"_

_"You weren't even there so I don't know what you think you know. But the answer to your question is no. The heavens would not allow a loser like Lee to beat the genius from the Sand." Neji's voice held a hint of regret, he may have seen Lee as a loser but they were still teammates._

_"Okay." Naruto said one word and waited. Kakashi and Gai walked up._

_"OKAY!" Gai started. "This is a friendly battle to show the power of youth. So there is no need to take this so seriously." Gai was clearly forcing himself but no one called him out on it. He was the person who was impacted the most by Lee's loss._

_"The SPAR…" Kakashi had to emphasise that word. "…will go on for one minute or until we deem it necessary to stop the match. Don't forget about the Final round of the Chuunin Exams and throw out all of your trump cards. Start when you are ready."_

_"It is time for you to learn the limits of being born a loser." Neji confidently took his stance._

_"She cares for you…"Naruto said as he took an all-fours stance. "Even though you were the one who put her like that. I'm just grateful we can start, I didn't think I could hold in my anger any more than that." Instantly, Naruto's teeth and nails started to grow. Sasuke activated his Sharingan, the brief time after Lee's match gave him enough chakra to watch this fight through. A second after Naruto's features changed, he was entirely coated in an orange chakra. Sasuke had seen this before in the forest, the next thing that would grow is a tail. And true to his thoughts, a chakra tail formed behind Naruto._

_"What the…" Neji said. He had never seen anything like this before. The other Genin in the room also shared those same thoughts. The Chuunin, Jounin and the Hokage were watching on intently. Sasuke could tell that they knew where this power came from._

_Neji quickly activated his Byakugan and prepared to intercept any attack. What he didn't expect was to not be able to see that attack coming. Naruto had disappeared from his sight and smashed into the back of his head. Neji was forced across the room but used his hands to spin himself upright. He didn't expect such speed. He would have to be ready. Sasuke could barely keep up with the movements himself. It was slightly slower than Lee's Extreme Lotus, but it was fast enough that his two tomoe Sharingan couldn't see it._

_"She cares for you. Lee cares for you." Naruto said as he once again charged towards Neji. Neji barely managed to jump out of the way. He started moving when Naruto disappeared and that was barely enough. "Yet you don't care for either of them." Naruto continued his onslaught._

_The Leaf Genin in the room who were watching the two fight consisted of Shikamaru, Chouji, Ino, Shino, Sakura, and Sasuke himself. Of them only Sakura and Sasuke had seen this before, and Sakura didn't even know what it came from. Naruto's power was something completely new to them. Sasuke just watched as Neji struggled to avoid Naruto's next few attacks._

_"AM I A LOSER NEJI?! DOES THE WORLD REJECT ME STILL!?" Naruto yelled._

_"You were born a loser. That fact doesn't not change." Neji's cold-hearted reply even annoyed Sasuke. _

_"RAAAAAAGGGGGHHHHHHHH!" Naruto roared in rage. Sasuke could barely believe his eyes. Naruto was growing a second chakra tail. Now the chakra in his system was greater than what five gates Lee had. This was astounding. The two tailed Naruto disappeared from everyone's view. _

_Neji's eyes widened in shock. In front of him was a fist covered in a coat of chakra. Attached to that fist was Naruto who was also covered in the coat of chakra. Holding that fist back was the Third Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi._

_"You almost took it too far Naruto." The Third said. "This is only a spar between comrades." The cloak around Naruto instantly disappeared. Sasuke watched as the Third pushed Naruto back causing him to be launched into the opposing wall. "And you Hyuuga boy. I have no right to butt into your business, but do not treat your comrades like they are nothing. They may not want to help you in your time of need." The Third clapped his hands twice. "Okay, that's enough. Everyone go and rest for the night, most of you have some serious training to do." At that point the Third walked away with his guards following._

_XXX_

_Sasuke sat atop of the hospital building waiting for Naruto to come out of it. He was currently in Hinata's room with her team making sure she is alright before the visiting hours finish for the night. He wanted to ask him a favour; he was willing to throw away his pride for this favour. Ever since Lee's fight, Sasuke had been lost in thought. Why was he not strong? Was he not trying enough? Will he be able to defeat Itachi if he met him now?_

"_You've always wanted to surpass me. That's why I'm going to let you live… if you wish to kill me, then hate me, despise me… and by all means flee, cling to your wretched life._"

'Those words that he said, is hatred really the only thing that will make me stronger? That Hyuuga is very similar to Itachi, they are a genius of their time and they cannot be overcome with hard work. Even Gaara is at that level, yet Lee managed to beat him around with his hard work. And Hinata's willpower to constantly stand up also showed a lot of strength. I don't have either of those traits, yet I am supposed to beat Itachi with hate.'

Sasuke's thoughts have been going in that constant loop. He had no idea how he should be fighting anymore. How would he have ended up if he didn't watch the Preliminary fights?

"Thanks for waiting, Sasuke." While Sasuke was lost in thought, Naruto had joined him on the roof. It was then that Sasuke remembered the words that were said to him.

"_You say that your 'PURPOSE' is to kill a psychopathic ninja who managed to kill your whole clan, and you think that you can get there with hatred, but do you HONOSTLY think that your hate is making you stronger?_"

"Hey Naruto." Sasuke smiled as Naruto approached. How could he be so stupid? The answer was already given to him.

"_Get stronger and THEN worry about your brother, not the other way around moron. Your hatred is misplaced._"

"What is it? I want to go home and sleep." What Naruto had said on that night a while ago held the answer that he had been searching for, hate was not something that makes him stronger, but it was his need to protect his comrades! In the battle with Haku, his Sharingan awoke when Naruto was in danger. Maybe the need to protect his teammates would further boost his skill.

"I have a favour to ask. I want you to help me train my Taijutsu. When you are using the Nine Tail's chakra you become incredibly strong, you were strong enough to defeat my first opponent in the Finals. With your help I should be able to defeat him. It won't be bad for you either since me and you are on opposite sides of the tournament. If we were to fight it would be in the last match." Sasuke's proposition seemed like a fair trade, however he could see that there was something more behind Naruto's eyes.

"There is something about Neji that I need to talk to you about."

XXX

_Naruto walked into the hospital room. Inside already were Shino, Kiba in his hospital gown, and Kurenai who all stood above the bed. Inside of the bed lay Hinata who was struggling for her life. She was wired up to enough machines so if there was any change in her wellbeing the nurses would instantly know. The damage done from Neji would be long lasting, but not permanent. Every now and then her condition would worsen, but as long as she is treated correctly she will be fine. The hospital seemed to have experience with patients who took a lot of damage from the Gentle Fist style. _

"_What do you want Naruto?" Kiba barked. Akamaru let out a yap in agreement. Naruto walked closer to the bed to see Hinata's sleeping face. Every now and then she winced in pain. "I asked you, what do you want?"_

"_I just want to speak with Hinata." Naruto could tell that Kurenai was staring at him with a cold look. She was probably concerned that Kurama's chakra would once again flood my system and make me lose control. "If she isn't awake then there is no need for me to be here."_

"_Wait a second." Kiba stepped in between Naruto and the doorway. "I heard about your fight with Neji. What was that power you used? You're features became more like an animal, just like my_ _Imitation Beast Ninja Art, and you were using a different chakra. Shino said that it felt like the chakra itself was enraged. What are you?"_

_Naruto just shrugged as he tried to push past Kiba. Kurenai decided to speak next. "Kiba, you shouldn't ask people about their powers when he may have to end up fighting your teammate. No ninja in the right mind would spill their secrets. Information is a powerful weapon."_

"_Ha." Naruto's laugh came to the surprise of everyone else in the room. "Do you really think that is the reason? I have no qualms with telling your team, but you wouldn't want that would you Kurenai-sensei? Especially since Kiba is unable to keep his mouth shut he may accidently let it slip to someone. And we both know what would happen after that, isn't that right Kurenai -sensei. Don't try to make me look selfish when I'm looking out for my classmates."Kurenai just looked away from Naruto. She hadn't thought that Naruto would look after others by keeping his secret._

"_What is your problem Naruto?!" Kiba pushed Naruto. Akamaru yapped. They both knew they had to keep their voices down in a hospital. He would not stand anyone talking to his Jounin like that. "You have no right to talk to sensei like that." Kiba once again pushed Naruto._

_Naruto snarled at Kiba. "Do you think I care? Right now I am in a shitty mood and your loud mouth isn't helping. Why can't you be more like Shino? He only speaks when there is something to say. You on the other hand talk and talk like you're the very best yet you completely lost to Shikamaru, the laziest person the Academy has ever seen. Since I am the most selfish person in the world I might as well tell you about this power I have... but keep in mind it is an SS-Rank secret and the Hokage will have to punish you with death if you tell anyone else about it."_

"_Cut the crap Naruto. There is no way that's true." Kiba assumed Naruto was bluffing._

"_Fine then. Do you remember the history class in the Academy about…"_

"_ENOUGH!" Kurenai's yell came to the shock of her team. "Kiba and Shino leave now." Kurenai's order came with no protest; they had never seen her with that expression. She was both angry and scared. This made Kiba double back. He left the room with no complaint. Shino stood there for a few more seconds before walking off after Kiba. "You would dare tell them about IT. That monster has ruined enough lives already; there is no need for it to ruin more."_

"_RUIN MORE!" Naruto roared. Kurama's chakra started to flood his system. "WHAT ABOUT MY LIFE?! NO ONE CARES ABOUT THE PERSON WHO KEPT THIS MONSTER AT BAY FOR 12 YEARS! LET'S ALL GIVE A SHIT ABOUT THE MONSTER ITSELF, BUT LEAVE THE ONLY THING PROTECTING EVERYONE TO FEND FOR HIMSELF!"_

'_**Calm yourself. Now is not the time to lose it.**__' As soon as Kurama said this his chakra stopped flowing out of his cage. '__**To think you can pull out so much without my permission.**__'_

"_The flaws in your logic are despicable. To think you are a Jounin." Naruto shook his head in disgust. "By the way. The Nine Tailed fox inside of me is not the monster that you all fear. If you treat someone poorly, they will do the same in return. You started hating Kurama first." Naruto glanced behind Kurenai to the girl on the bed. "Oh shit." _

"_Eep." Hinata quickly covered her blushing face with the bed sheet. Kurenai quickly looked behind her to see Hinata awake._

"_Hinata…" Kurenai just stood back in shock. She was trying to protect her team from the SS-Rank secret that could endanger their lives but completely forgot that Hinata was in the room. Naruto was no better, in his anger he had completely forgotten about the reason he had come to the hospital._

"_How much did you hear?" Naruto calmly asked Hinata. He had something else to talk about but this was more important. _

"_Um… Well…" Hinata thought for a bit. "All of it." Hinata sat up and twiddled her fingers. She was acting her usual self. "Naruto-san has the Nine Tailed fox that attacked the village 12 years ago inside of him, and it's a SS-Rank secret in the village. It's not that big of a deal as long as I don't tell anyone… right?" Hinata quickly turned red again when she noticed Naruto staring straight at her. Naruto just smiled, Hinata had brushed the Nine Tails off as being not a big deal._

"_Haha. Yeah pretty much. Don't tell anyone." Naruto sheepishly rubbed the back of his head. Kurenai just stood back and watched the two of them. Even though Hinata now knew about the fox, it was still illegal to talk about it, especially with Kiba's dog senses nearby. Naruto also knew this so he quickly steered the conversation back to its original purpose. "Hey Hinata-chan. Can you tell me more about Neji? You said before that he was suffering or something like that, what did you mean?"_

_Hinata tilted her head in confusion. She didn't recall her desperate plea to Naruto while her condition was still unstable. "Um…"_

_Naruto saw her confusion and waved his hand in front of his face. "Don't worry about it." Naruto turned to walk away._

"_Wait." Hinata spoke towards Naruto's back. She found it incredibly difficult to speak to his face, so she hoped he wouldn't turn around. "Um… If it's about Neji-niisan…" Hinata poked her forefingers together while considering what to say next. She closed her eyes to find her resolve, she desperately wanted Neji to "Neji-niisan is my cousin. His father and mine are twin brothers; well… they were twin brothers. My father was born first so he became the heir to the Main House while Neji's father became a member of a Branch House. It is not my place to say much more. But you need to know that Neji's hatred is not completely misplaced. As a member of a Branch House, Neji's father died to save the life of my father. Please, help Neji-niisan. I do not want him to continue down this path." Hinata finally opened her eyes to see Naruto staring straight at her. "Eeep." Hinata ducked under the covers hiding from Naruto._

"_Hmmmm…" Naruto thought for a second. "Since when were you so strong Hinata-chan?" With that Hinata peaked out of the covers. "I mean, you've always been the quiet person who didn't speak to anyone. Heck I don't think we ever spoke before the Chuunin Exams. I thought you were a little weird." Hinata's sank into the bed with disappointment. "But it turns out I was wrong. You fought past your limit, and now you are trying to help the person who almost killed you. I like people like you." Naruto gave Hinata one of his big smiles, and he didn't have to fake it this time either. He felt like it had been a while since he could smile like that. Without saying another word Naruto turned and looked straight at Kurenai. They made a silent agreement to let Kurenai handle the conversation about the Nine Tails. Naruto waved back to Hinata as he walked out._

XXX

"…and that is why Neji is an absolute dick to everyone." Naruto wrapped up his retelling of the recent events. Sasuke sat back in deep thought. "I want to help Neji, but I get too hot-headed all of the time, and now that Kurama's chakra floods my system easier I cannot be the one to save him. I will help you train your Taijutsu, however you need to be the one to free Neji from his darkness."

Sasuke nodded his head. "I agree with you. You are hot-headed." Naruto gave Sasuke a deadpan look. He was being serious here. "You don't need to worry about Neji. I have my own bone to pick with him." Sasuke's eyes flashed a glimmer of hatred. "He is too similar to HIM." Sasuke stood up and begun to walk away. "I'm gonna find Kakashi-sensei and tell him what we want to do. See you tomorrow."

'**So that's your plan huh. Getting stronger with Taijutsu, but that won't be enough to defeat your opponents. You're first match is against someone who will become a very good strategist in a few years. You're second match is against a long range wind user who is a rather good counter to your current strength, and your third fight will probably be against Shukaku's host. Taijutsu won't get you very far.**' Kurama who patiently waited for the two of them to finish speaking finally decided to comment.

'But I need Sasuke to be able to defeat Neji. What other choice do I have? I have a month anyway.'

'**Sasuke needs a stronger sparring partner. Without my chakra you aren't good enough to fight against him. But what will happen if you lose control like you did against Neji. Wait, can you even use my chakra against someone you don't hate?**'

'But I need to do this. Kakashi-sensei will be there so it's fine.'

'**Hmmm… If you are going to be using my chakra I probably should help you.**' Kurama would never admit to helping someone else, but Naruto knew he was actually good natured. '**You discovered an efficient way of training, and it would be a waste not to exploit it. I think your Kakashi-sensei will tell you about this but I might as well tell you now. If you use your Shadow Clones to train different things you can learn things at a much faster rate. This will be the key to winning this Chuunin Exams, as well as defeating Shukaku's host. I will be helping you with this training, and I will teach you new things but there will be a condition attached. I won't tell you what that condition is until I want it to be met, and you must agree with it at that time. If you do not then we will never work together again. It is your choice whether to take this agreement or not.**'

Naruto was a little surprised at the seriousness in Kurama's voice. Naruto was sure that whatever Kurama wanted it wouldn't be too bad so…

'Okay. I agree.'

'**Remember you made that promise brat. Now go get some rest. We will start tomorrow.**'

XXX

A team of four sat in a stall waiting for their BBQ meat to arrive. Chouji was just staring at the BBQ itself pretending there was food on it already. Ino was looking at Chouji with a hint of annoyance. Shikamaru and Asuma were both deep in thought over two different things. Asuma was thinking about the most efficient method of training for his Genin. While Shikamaru was busy thinking about his first opponent. Naruto had used some abnormal ability which helped him overpower Neji Hyuuga who had one of the highest chances of winning the whole competition. He knew that he needed a major plan to defeat such strength, but first he needed information. What that power is, where it came from, and finally its weaknesses.

"Asuma-sensei." Shikamaru's words sent Asuma out of his daze. "I need to ask you about that power Naruto used in that fight with Neji." Ino looked up to say she agreed with him, she wanted to know what it was as well. If it made the Dead Last of their year strong enough to defeat the strongest rookie of last year. Chouji just continued to stare at the BBQ. "What the hell was it? It is troublesome but I will have to fight that. Is it some kind of clan technique, maybe a Kinjutsu (Forbidden Jutsu)."

Asuma grumbled a bit. He wasn't allowed to say anything about the Nine Tails, but he had to think of something. Maybe he could just try to play ignorant. "I don't know." Asuma shrugged. "I'll ask Kakashi about it later. I don't think he'll openly tell me though." Ino was unsatisfied with that answer but looked away anyway. If Asuma didn't know then what could she do about it. However, Shikamaru didn't believe Asuma's words. All of the Jounin in the room knew very well where Naruto's power was coming from. But if Asuma wouldn't tell him then he would have to ask his father. And if he didn't say anything then he would have to put his brain to work. He could not let the weakest Genin of their year Naruto defeat him, his mother would yell his ear off if that happened.

Asuma clapped his hands. "Okay. Two of the three of you made it to the final round of the Chuunin Exams. You should feel proud of your accomplishments. But it's not over yet. Over the next month I will be training your asses off so you can become Chuunin. However if I tell you how to train you cannot gain the independence a Chuunin needs. So Shikamaru, tell me how you want to train over the next month." Asuma thought about it and decided that he could brush off the responsibility of making them strong enough to compete and only do as they want him to. He didn't think this idea through.

"Meh. Training is too troublesome. I'm going to train every second day and sleep the rest." Shikamaru gave his usual uninterested look to Asuma's seemingly dumb idea.

"No you will be training more than that." Asuma said. "See if you can get your dad to train you as well. You might need it against…" The Nine Tails. "…Naruto." Shikamaru just nodded and went back to his self-thinking. "What about you Chouji?"

"Me?" Chouji looked surprised for some reason. "I'm not fighting that Gaara. You saw the fight between Rock Lee and Gaara. How am I supposed to defeat that?" Asuma just face palmed. Both of his Genin didn't seem interested in participating.

XXX

A heavily covered person walked along the river looking for someone. He had used his bugs to find him. Shino had walked up to the person standing by the river. This person looked just like Shino, the cloak, hair and glasses, but had a light moustache. But of course son's look like their father.

"I heard that you made it to the final round of the Chuunin Exams." Shibi Aburame, the pride of Aburame spoke to his son. "Well done, Shino. I guess you would like some training."

"That is correct father. I will require more trump cards to defeat some of my opponents, but that is not the only reason I approach you." Shibi lifted his eyebrows a bit, what could Shino need from him? "Do you know anything about Naruto Uzumaki?" Shibi held his stoic appearance on the outside, but was in deep thought on the inside.

"No I can't say I have." What did Shino want to know about Konoha's resident jinchuuriki.

"He used an unusual power that I have never seen before. There is a possibility that it has to do with an SS-Rank secret of the village." At this Shibi almost dropped his cool appearance.

"That's impossible Shino. Think about it, if it was an SS-Rank secret how would you know about it?" Shibi hoped that this deception would work on Shino. It didn't.

But Shino wasn't blind enough to see that the topic was taboo. "Don't worry about it. I would like to train with you for the next month, with your permission of course." Shibi breathed an internal sigh. The topic was avoided but not completely removed from Shino's mind. That should be enough for now.

XXX

Neji Hyuuga sat on the tatami mat floors of his Branch house. He was trying to meditate. A Hyuuga must be calm and collected at all times, but he couldn't keep his annoyance bottled. He had lost to Naruto Uzumaki due to his own arrogance. He was struggling to calm down when he heard someone outside. He quickly activated his Byakugan to see who it was. As soon as he did he stopped his eyes. "Is there something you need Hanabi-sama?" The young girl walked into the room.

As Hinata's younger sister she was much shorter than Neji. Consistent with the rest of her clan has long dark hair with a single strand streaming down her face, as well as the white Byakugan eyes. She wore a sleeveless blue shirt over mesh armour with blue shorts. She knew about the Chuunin Exam's and was curious as to how her sister and cousin went, however her father wouldn't tell her anything so she had to come to Neji.

Before Hanabi could speak, Neji continued. "I guess you want to know how Hinata-sama went in the exam." After a nod from Hanabi he continued. "I knocked her out of the Preliminary Match. She was not ready to take the Chuunin Exam this early. If that is all you want, I ask, with the most respect, that you leave me alone. I wish to recover from the battles I have had to fight." Hanabi looked a little dejected but nodded and left. Neji knew that Hanabi felt very alone in the Hyuuga compound. She was the only one her age and was to be the one who succeeds the clan since her Byakugan was already stronger than Hinata's, but Neji was in no mood to entertain a spoilt child of the Main House.

"Naruto Uzumaki. Destiny will not let a loser like you defeat me a second time."

* * *

**A/N**

And the Preliminaries are over. Rather than the mini training arc what I could write, I am going to go straight to the battles and flashback to any moment that would be considered important. Don't worry though, Jiraiya will appear, just not next chapter.

Also the story summary has been changed, I am REALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLY bad at writing those so tell me if its alight or not. Please.

Juicy has also uploaded a new Fairy Tail X Naruto story, so go and check "The Chains that Bind". As for my two stories I mentioned a few chapters ago, they will come as soon as I finish the Chuunin Exams, I'm on a roll here.

Please review and until next time.

Signing out Comfy Cushion


	10. This Is Going To Be Troublesome

**_Written by _****_Comfy Cushion_** and betaed by **_Juicy Phoenician_** and Dr. Fabulous.

* * *

"WE WILL NOW START THE MAIN TOURNAMENT MATCHES, BETWEEN THE 9 PARTICIPANTS WHO MADE IT THROUGH THE PRELIMINARIES. PLEASE STAY… AND WATCH UNTIL THE END!" Hiruzen Sarutobi yelled out to the crowd. The coliseum type arena had raised stands keeping a safe distance from the battlefield. The battlefield itself had patchy grass with major crevices along the ground. There was the occasional tree around the battlefield. Standing in the middle were the 9 participants of the Final Chuunin Exam Round, Naruto, Sasuke, Shikamaru, Chouji, Shino, Neji, Gaara, Kankuro, Temari, as well as the referee for their matches. The referee was a Jounin level ninja who wore the standard Jounin outfit. His forehead protector acted as a backwards bandana which covered the top of his shoulder length brown hair. In his mouth was his trademark extra-long toothpick.

Genma walked towards the waiting Genin holding up a piece of paper. "This is the setup for the final matches. There have been no changes to what you were shown back after the Preliminaries. This is the final test. The arena is different but the rules are the same as in the preliminaries." All the Genin silently acknowledged the fact that Genma just said that he decided who the victor is. "The first match, Shikamaru Nara and Naruto Uzumaki. This is a match to even the numbers, so those two stay here while the rest of you go to the waiting room.

Naruto and Shikamaru stood facing each other with Genma standing in between. A smile came to Naruto's face. "I don't plan on losing here Shikamaru."

Shikamaru kept his hands in his pockets as he walked forward. "Can I say something first? This is fairly important." Shikamaru was now next to Naruto. He knew that the crowd could hear everything that they talked about so he whispered at his lowest volume. "There is something I want to check…"

X In the month before the final exam X

_Shikamaru jumped to the side avoiding a shadow that almost reached his feet. Quickly hiding behind a tree he pulled out a kunai and threw it at an unusually high angle. He quickly dived to the left expecting the shadow to come from the right. He was wrong; the shadow appeared behind him and caught him in place._

"_You guessed three possible moves that I could have made and reacted accordingly, you also predicted my double bluffs. Always keep your eyes on the surroundings and use trees to your advantage. Our shadows work well with them." Without control of his body Shikamaru walked out of the trees and into his backyard. An older looking version of Shikamaru stood at the other side of the shadow. The man had a goatee and wears a mesh shirt under his flak jacket, as well as a deer skin sleeveless coat. The right side of his face had two scars which shows his experience in battle. "You did well."_

"_It isn't over yet dad." The man who Shikamaru spoke to is Shikaku the Nara clan head. As soon as Shikamaru said this a kunai came rocketing down from the sky straight for Shikaku's feet._

"_Oooh… interesting." Shikaku said as he stepped back just enough to avoid the kunai. But as soon as he did that he realised his mistake. Attached to that kuani was an explosive tag that looked eager to explode. However, contrary to Shikamaru's expectations the tag didn't explode._

"_Wha…" Shikamaru looked confused. That tag should have exploded causing his father to recoil to a large enough distance to break his shadow. Seeing the confused look on Shikamaru's face Shikaku just laughed as he pointed up. Shikamaru looked up to see a few unusually low clouds that hung around the tree leaves. "How troublesome. What did you do, dad?"_

"_During our earlier encounter I continued to throw water balloons up so that they would rest on the leaves. The tree leaves are low enough that anything thrown up will have to go through them. I know about all of your equipment so I came prepared. And nothing is as useless as a wet explosive tag. It both negates the explosion and makes the ink all runny. But for you not to notice clouds, something must be on your mind. Actually, you are taking these matches much more seriously than you use to. Want to tell me what is on your mind?"_

"_How troublesome. I wanted a little bit more proof before I asked you but I guess I don't have a choice." Shikamaru sighed as he was released from his father's jutsu. "It has to do with my first opponent, Naruto Uzumaki."__ This wasn't the first time they had spoken about Naruto so Shikaku wasn't surprised, that was until he continued speaking. "I've been doing research on him because there is something that has been bothering me. That power that he used wasn't normal, and a lot of Naruto's details are classified. Stuff like his family registry, even his blood type and birthdate are classified. That got me thinking why would someone's birthday be classified, so when I ran into him the other day I asked him. October the 10th, twelve years ago. You know what else happened on that day, the Nine Tail's attacked the village. It was defeated by the Fourth Hokage but it was never mentioned how. Now this is why I ask a question. Was it sealed inside Naruto?"_

_Shikaku had to put on his game face. Shikamaru still doesn't know for sure since no one has told him, which means that he was still not allowed to talk about it. "Shikamaru, if what you said is true. Then wouldn't that be a high level secret in the village?" Shikaki never actually said that it was true but he practically confirmed it for Shikamaru._

"_Which is why I wanted more evidence. Oh well, it's too much trouble. I'm gonna go for a walk." Shikamaru had begun walking away from his father when he looked over his shoulder. "Thanks."_

"_How troublesome." Shikaku said before he made his way to the Hokage's office. He just heard something to report._

XXX

"…are you the Nine Tail's jinchuriki?" Shikamaru asked. Naruto just looked at him in shock. How did he know? Who told him? What will happen now? "Okay then… That's all I wanted to know. This may sound like a selfish request but please don't use it against me. I don't want to be completely destroyed like you were going to do to Neji. If that happens, then my mother will completely destroy me again when I get home. Please Naruto." Naruto couldn't remove the shocked look from his face, but now it was for a different reason. Shikamaru was less afraid of the Nine Tails then he was his mother. A laugh escaped from Naruto's lips.

"Don't worry. I need to save Kurama's chakra for later fights anyways." Naruto was now grinning at Shikamaru. There was no way he could ever take Shikamaru as a serious person. Maybe when they fight it will be different, but he seems like a nice enough guy to not worry about a monster inside of Naruto. That or he was too lazy to care about it.

"Thanks." He said as he walked back away from Naruto. "Okay. I'm ready."

Genma watched the interaction with great interest. He was the only other person in the arena who could hear that conversation. He was one of the Hokage's personal bodyguards, and was there when Shikaku came in telling them about his son's revelation. He shared a quick glance with the Hokage who was giving Genma a look. 'You WILL be telling me what they just said.'

The crowd was ready for the match to start but there wasn't any hype. The two lowest ranked rookies of this year's batch of Leaf Genin wasn't much to get excited about. The fact that one of those Genin was Naruto didn't help the excitement levels.

"NOW, THE FIRST FIGHT! BEGIN!" Genma said before he walked backwards to give the Genin enough room to fight.

'LET'S DO THIS! KURAMA!'

'**Yeah. Stick to the plan, and listen to whatever I say.**'

Naruto quickly pulled out two kunai and threw them at Shikamaru who did the exact same thing in return causing them to clash halfway between the two of them. Before the kunai hit the ground, Naruto was already running towards his opponent. Shikamaru simply leapt backwards avoiding any close contact with Naruto. Over the few years he knew Naruto, it was obvious that he was a close combat fighter so Shikamaru had to avoid that at all costs. But Naruto needed to get closer so he continued his charge.

'**Watch your feet.**' Kurama's warning saved Naruto from a black shadow that was creeping up to him. Shikamaru had made a seal and sent this shadow out the second he landed. Naruto rolled to the side but the shadow continued its pursuit. Naruto decided to run away from Shikamaru in order to get out of his range.

"It looks like this is going to be a long battle." Naruto said as Shikamaru's shadow stopped just short of Naruto.

XXX

Sasuke, Chouji and Shino stood in the waiting area just above the battlefield but below the stands. Chouji was standing awkwardly in between the two. The three of them were intensely watching the match at hand. They all had seen Naruto's power a month ago against Neji and realised that he would be saving it for a later fight, that meant that they would have to face it eventually, assuming he won.

"Naruto isn't going to use THAT is he?" Shino voiced what they were all thinking. He was curious about what that power was but decided to drop the topic after a few more conversations with his father.

"He won't need it against Shikamaru." Sasuke spoke next. He had been sparring with Naruto and his clones for the first three weeks and knew that Naruto was one of the strongest in this competition. "Shikamaru is too lazy to even fight properly. I don't think he can win against Naruto." He watched as Naruto ran forward again to be blocked by Shikamaru's shadow forcing him to retreat.

"I wouldn't be so sure. I've never seen Shikamaru this determined." Shino and Sasuke looked at Shikamaru who had replaced his hands in his pocket. His lazy looking face had never left throughout the whole battle. "I think he has something to prove." Sasuke and Shino just remained silent. Chouji knew Shikamaru best and if that's what he said then who are they to argue.

"Naruto. Uzumaki." A voice rang out behind them. Gaara seemed to be more on edge then Naruto. "You will validate my existence." Chouji just gulped. He was supposed to fight that bloodthirsty maniac. He was getting more and more nervous the longer he had to wait.

XXX

After his third attempt to get close to Shikamaru failed, Naruto was getting rather agitated. "How am I meant to get to him?" Naruto then realised something he should have done straight away. "Shadow Clone Jutsu." Ten more Naruto's appeared around the original. "LET'S DO THIS!" They all yelled as they began their charge. As they ran they continually shuffled so that Shikamaru would lose who the real one is.

"Heh…" Shikamaru smiled as he saw this. He was waiting for this. Naruto's signature jutsu. He knew about its one fatal flaw. Shikamaru pulled out two smoke bombs and threw them at his feet just as the eleven Naruto's were upon him. The competitors were completely out of view. The crowd watched as the smoke cleared to reveal a group of Naruto's standing awkwardly. They were looking around the field to find where Shikamaru had disappeared to.

"Where did he go?" One of them asked.

"I don't know. Didn't we have him? Where could he go?" Another replied.

"How troublesome. How did he get away from us?"

"Wait. Something's wrong." A Naruto on the outskirts asked. "How many clones did we make?" That Naruto held his fingers up trying to count how many there were.

"Hey! He's right! We only made 10 clones. Why are there 12 of us?"

"Damn that Shikamaru. He Henged(Transformed) ."

"Then who is the fake. Well I guess most of us are fakes, but who is the fake fake."

"Are we really fakes though? We are pretty much exact copies."

"You know I never thought of that."

The entire crowd just watched in amazement as all of the Naruto's were having a conversation among themselves. I don't think anyone expected a battle to turn out this way. What was even more unusual was the fact that all 12 of the Naruto's managed to keep the pace.

XXX

"WHAT IS THAT IDIOT DOING!?" Sakura yelled as she watched her teammate ruin the atmosphere of the fight in an instant. Ino who was sitting next to her was laughing really hard. She knew Naruto was an idiot, but to think he was this bad. "DON'T LAUGH INO-PIG."

With that Ino also got angry with those words. "WHAT WAS THAT FOREHEAD GIRL?! SHOULDN'T YOU BE EMBARRASED THAT YOUR TEAMMATE IS HAVING A CONVERSATION WITH HIMSELF IN THE MIDDLE OF THE BATTLE!?"

"DON'T FORGET YOUR TEAMMATE IS IN THERE AS WELL, INO-PIG! YOUR TEAMMATE IS ABLE TO KEEP UP WITH NARUTO'S IDIOCY." Sakura and Ino were both standing up and glaring at each other.

"Hey that's enough girls." Kakashi was to the isle side of Sakura and was close enough to wonder whether he would have permanent ear damage or not. "Oooh. Look who's finally out of the hospital." Sakura and Ino stopped their arguing to see who it was.

"Lee-san" Sakura said delighted. She had visited him fairly often while he was in the hospital. Lee was still wearing his hospital gown while he walked on crutches. Gai was standing behind his Genin as he waved to Kakashi. Kakashi got up to let Lee take his seat, while he walked up to stand next to Gai.

"Hey Sakura-chan. What have I missed?" Lee said as he sat down. He was still in a bit of pain but he wanted to watch these matches. He watched as one Naruto punched another causing it to dispel. Supposedly the dispelled clone called the other one ugly making him get angry. Although that really makes no sense when you think about it.

"Nothing really. This is the first match and absolutely nothing has happened." Sakura said that with a hint of annoyance in her voice. "Shikamaru has Henged into a Naruto, but all Naruto has been doing is talking to himself."

Lee thought for a second. "I don't think it's that simple. It's the same with me. It's not easy to keep up with my youthful conversation."

XXX

"Hey hey." One of the clones decided to speak louder than the rest. "What if, the original Naruto who made us became the fake, and the clones that he made became the real one?" The other Naruto's just looked at the one as if he was high or something.

"I think that's enough messing around." One of the Naruto's did a roundhouse kick on another sending him flying across the field. That one smashed into the ground causing a dust cloud to rise. "Nice try Shikamaru." The dust cloud settled to reveal Shikamaru sitting on a crack in the ground.

"Ow…" Shikamaru stood up and unhealthily cracked his back. "So… how did you know? I thought I did a pretty good job pretending to be you."

"You did. I couldn't actually tell who you were, until one of my clones came up with a good idea." The other Naruto's aside from the one speaking looked proud at that. "When a Shadow Clone bursts, its memories are given to the original as well as every other clone there is. So he created a sign that we could use to identify one another and caused himself to get burst in a unsuspicious way." The crowd made a sound in understanding. The conversation was a way to figure out who Shikamaru was, but then the clone who called another one ugly thought of a good idea, and using that he figured out which one Shikamaru was.

"Heh. I'm impressed. This is going to be more troublesome than I thought." Shikamaru dusted himself off. "I would move if I were you." Shikamaru made a seal to the confusion of Naruto until he heard a sizzling sound beneath him.

"Oh shit." Looking down Naruto saw an explosive tag ready to detonate. The original Naruto was thrown high into the air by the two closest clones. All the clones on the ground saluted their flying original as the tag went off. All the clones burst into smoke as Naruto landed a safe distance away.

"I'm not done yet." Shikamaru once again made the seal with his hands causing Naruto to look down in panic. He had landed exactly where another tag was placed. Naruto quickly made twenty clones who all jumped on the tag while the original ran away. The explosion was partially supressed giving the original enough time to escape the shortened radius.

"Can you stop blowing up my clones? They have feelings too." Naruto was replied with another seal being made. Naruto wasted no time in running towards Shikamaru at top speed, rather than wasting time looking at the tag. He figured there wouldn't be any tags close to Shikamaru.

'**THAT WAS A BLUFF. JUMP BACKWARDS.**' Listening to his partner, Narutojumped back barely avoiding a shadow that approached the front. He landed exactly where he was a second ago with no explosion.

"Why are you using so many explosive tags?" Naruto asked. It wasn't unusual to have them, but to use two in the space of seconds in a fight is rather wasteful.

"I know how durable you are. This would be the only way to keep you down." Naruto saw a glimmer in Shikamaru's eye. He had a reason to be trying so hard against Naruto, but he had no idea why.

'Any better plans Kurama. He won't let me get close to him.'

'**You haven't tried getting close to him with an all-out assault. Last time he used smoke bombs to cover his tracks but his plan failed. If you keep attacking him with clones then he should eventually run out of equipment or slip up and take a hit.**'

'Got it' Naruto once again made ten clones and charged at Shikamaru. However, this time Shikamaru knew that his trick wouldn't work so instead of pulling out two smoke bombs he pulled out two kunai and threw them at the clones. Two of Naruto's clones burst leaving nine charging towards him. Jumping backwards, Shikamaru pulled out three shuriken with each hand throwing them at the clones. The clones pulled out their own throwing them to intercept Shikamaru's. They clashed in midair as the clones ran past them almost upon Shikamaru.

"Got you." Naruto said as the first clone reached Shikamaru. Shikamaru smiled as that clone suddenly fell on his head and burst. He ran into the wire strings Shikamaru had set up using his previous shuriken. However these ones had chakra coursing through them making them stronger than normal. Quickly pulling on the strings, Shikamaru burst another six clones from behind. The real Naruto launched a punch at Shikamaru, who caught it easily.

"Shadow Imitation Technique. Success." Shikamaru said as he jumped away from Naruto causing him to do the same. The dark shadow finally caught Naruto and connected the two of them, forcing Naruto to do whatever Shikamaru does.

"What can you possibly do with this? You can't hurt me like this or else you will get hurt as well." Naruto said as he tried to bluff his way out. This was Shikamaru's justu, he knew how to use it.

"That's not entirely true. Only the actions we take remain the same. Damage does not. You can get cut but I won't. I'll feel it but I won't get hurt. It's the same thing that happened with you and Dosu during the preliminaries." Naruto nodded as he understood. He felt disorientated from Dosu attacking his clones but it never actually hurt him.

"Well this isn't good." Shikamaru reached down into his leg weapons pouch and pulled out a kunai. Naruto did the same motion except his pouch was a little bit higher than Shikamaru's forcing him to put pressure on this pouch but in the end grabbed nothing. Shikamaru casually threw his kunai at Naruto. Naruto had no means to block, except he didn't need to. A puff of smoke appeared around him leaving him with a massive grin. The kunai landed straight on Naruto's chest, but rather than blood spurting out, he turned into a puff of smoke.

"Kawarimi (Substitution)." Naruto said as he sent a kick into Shikamaru's side sending him crashing into a nearby tree. Naruto had one last clone that hid from the very beginning. Shikamaru pulled himself up.

"Dammit. That hurt more than I thought." Shikamaru made a seal causing Naruto to panic. Another explosive tag was set underneath him but he didn't have time to completely dodge. So he jumped back while crossing his arms across his face to soften the blow. The explosion was enough to send him into the opposite wall.

The crowd roared with excitement. They hadn't expected such a flashy battle. It was filled with explosions, and who doesn't like mindless explosions. Shikamaru had crouched down and placed his hands together in a circle of sorts, while he closed his eyes. Only three ninja in the whole arena knew what he was doing. Shikamaru was seriously thinking.

Naruto stood up with light burns on his face and jacket. He was mostly fine, but he had to stop his ears ringing first.

'**You know this kid is smarter than I thought. He's predicted most of your moves; actually I think he has forced you to move in certain ways. This guy will make a good leader one day, actually, he probably is already.**'

'Kurama. Should I keep charging straight on or do I use my arm? I think I'll need to use it earlier than expected.'

'**You'd rather use the arm than me? They know about my power, but they don't know about the arm. You should save that for a later fight.**'

'I said I wouldn't use your power, so I will not.' As Naruto said this he finally was in good enough condition to move, so he went down onto his all-fours stance and charged.

Shikamaru finally opened his eyes just as Naruto was upon him. Not wanting to get hit by the oncoming Naruto head-butt, he jumped up onto the tree behind him and stuck to it using the tree walking exercise.

"That's a rather good fighting style. What do you call it?" Shikamaru asked as he knelt on the tree.

"I never really thought of a name. It doesn't matter though." Naruto had never tried climbing up a tree with this stance and the tree walking exercise, but now it was as good a time as any. Naruto ran up the tree successfully to see Shikamaru jump away. However his leg was caught by Naruto who threw him to the ground beneath him. Before he hit the ground, Shikamaru once again made a seal.

"THESE FUCKING EXPLOSIVE TAGS!" Naruto yelled as he jumped away. The tree shook with the shock of the explosion. Fortunately the tree was old enough for only bark and leaves to be sent everywhere. As the leaves slowly drifted to the ground Naruto jumped away from the shadow that tried to catch him.

"You'll never get me with that short range…" Naruto said as he reached the distance he kept away from Shikamaru before.

"Shadow Imitation Technique. Success… again." Shikamaru said as his shadow reached Naruto. The crowd boomed with excitement. It looked like the end was nearing.

"Whaa…? How?" Those were the only words Naruto could stammer out. He should have known the length of Shikamaru's jutsu from the previous encounters. It never reached past the same length.

"I didn't know how smart you are so I kept something secret. I can't hide it anymore though." Shikamaru walked forward causing Naruto to do the same. "The length of my shadow depends on the shadows that it passes through. The more shadow it goes through, the longer the range." At that Shikamaru picked up a leaf. The entire crowd sat forward with anticipation. Shikamaru had shown an incredible strategic ability which interested anyone who was worth mentioning. This was how ninja fought, with their mind as well as their bodies.

'Wait. Does that mean the explosion on the tree wasn't for me, but to knock down enough leaves?'

'**This kid is a freaken genius. How many moves could he possibly be planning ahead? Did he catch you the first time as a bluff, I don't think someone of his calibre would forget about a clone. Actually, he threw a kunai at you rather than the tags he's been using. And he planned on taking your hit which sent him towards the tree. Either he has the best of luck, or you are predictable, or he is one of the best strategists I have seen in a long time. You're screwed Naruto. It looks like your Final Exam will be very short lived. That is unless you use my chakra to break out.**'

'I'm not using it.' Naruto said. He told Shikamaru that he wouldn't so he will not go back on his word. Shikamaru is one of the few people who Naruto can't hate. During the Academy, and even sometimes before, Shikamaru would play with Naruto and treat him like he'd treat the other kids. Shikamaru's attitude had never been condescending towards Naruto and is one of the few people who never had any problems with Naruto. Chouji was another person who was like that. He could never hate these few people who he legitimately cared about. "So… what now?"

Shikamaru continued to walk forward as he pulled out another explosive tag. "It will take one of these to take you down. I suggest you surrender or this will hurt."

"Sorry. I'm not surrendering." Naruto said as he unwillingly walked towards Shikamaru.

"I don't want to do this Naruto." Shikamaru planted the tag on Naruto and started walking away. "Don't leave me with no choice. Surrender."

"Nope." Naruto was thinking of every possible way to get out of this scenario.

'**He has to release you before he blows up the tag, or else he will also be sent flying.**'

"I'm sorry Naruto. Please survive." With that he released his shadow binding but started the countdown on the tag. He was far enough away that Naruto couldn't get to him in time.

"Shunshin (Body Flicker)" Or so he thought. Naruto had undone his jacket zipper while speeding with no control. Shikamaru quickly turned around to see where Naruto was. He was directly behind Shikamaru with his black shirt revealed. His jacket had flown off and was right next to both of them.

In an explosion that shocked the crowd, both Naruto and Shikamaru were sent flying in the same direction and crumbled on the floor right next to each other.

XXX

"Hey hey. Are they both alright?" Kiba barked at what happened. There were two almost lifeless bodies lying on the battlefield. Akamaru whined in agreement. They were both concerned. His muscles had completely recovered from their tears that Shikamaru gave him.

"Um…" Hinata poked both of her fingers together. She was seriously concerned about what just transpired. "I hope they're okay." The crowd started cheering for whoever they wanted to win to stand up.

"Meh who am I kidding? Naruto will just stand back up. It takes more than that to keep him down" Kiba laughed as he saw Hinata's concerned face. It wasn't hard to see where her affections lied. Hinata wasn't in the best condition, every now and then she went through a coughing fit which set her in a bad condition, but like Lee, she couldn't miss out on these fights. Especially the ones with Naruto in them. She was also curious about the Sasuke and Neji fight, Naruto had visited her a few times in the hospital, much to her embarrassment, but one time in particularly he mentioned something about Neji.

"_Neji has some serious issues, but if the thinks he has the right to go around complaining about every god damn thing then he has another thing coming. Sasuke is about as mad at him as I am. No matter what happens during the Final Exam Neji is definitely coming out a different person than who he was going in."_

What had he meant by different person? No matter how Hinata asked him he refused to say. She just hoped that Sasuke would try to help Neji rather than break him. But now wasn't the time to think about that. Oh what she would give to be able to use her Byakugan in order to see Naruto's condition.

XXX

"Urgh… You awake Shikamaru?" Naruto was face down on the dirt trying to speak with the person barely a foot away.

"Yeah… I'm awake." Shikamaru was lying face up with his eyes closed. He knew he had to get up but he really didn't feel like it.

"Can I ask you something?" Naruto asked as he heard footsteps approach the two of them. Genma must want to check on both of their conditions. "This is the hardest I've even seen you try, why is that?"

Shikamaru just sighed as a response. "Do you know about the bets our Jounin's have going?" With that Naruto's face dropped.

XXX

"_Hey Shikamaru, Chouji." Asuma pulled his two competing Genin in close. "I need you to make sure you win your fights at all costs."_

"_Why Asuma-sensei? I don't even want to fight." Chouji said._

"_Well… you see here. There is a bet going on with us Jounin as to whose Genin will become Chuunin… and I'm really short on cash right now."_

"_How troublesome. If you just stopped smoking then you won't need to worry about that. It's killing you anyway." Shikamaru just stayed disinterested. "Besides, there is no way Chouji can win against that Gaara. You saw what he did to Lee."_

"_Well then you need to win Shikamaru. Don't you have an extra round?" Asuma clapped his hands as if he got a good idea. "If you win then Chouji won't have to fight Gaara. Does that sound fair?"_

""_No"" Both Genin said simultaneously._

"_That's my boys."_

XXX

Naruto was resisting the urge to beat his head against the dirt so his brain can be cleansed of that stupidity. "They're betting on us. Here we are trying to get promoted and they are betting on us. This is ridiculous."

'**Actually it's fairly normal.**'

"Shut up Kurama."

"Kurama?" Shikamaru questioned Naruto's sudden outburst.

"Oh… that's the Nine Tails' name."

"Huh…" Shikamaru was more surprised that Naruto knew its name than the fact that it had a name.

"Anyway. You should probably stand up. If you do then Chouji won't have to fight." Genma was waiting for one of them to move. He was listening to their conversation but had no right to join in.

"Yeah, but I'm pretty much beat." Shikamaru admitted. "You've pushed me to my limit while you were holding back. I can't believe how strong you've become Naruto. What happened to dead last?"

"Hehehe… I haven't been training for nothing."

"Yeah no kidding. It'd be unfair to you if I don't let you go further."

""I SURRENDER"" Both of them yelled at the same time. Genma just looked up at the Hokage with no idea what to do. He figured there would be only one way of doing this.

"You both can't surrender. Only one of you can lose." Genma said loud enough for everyone to hear. Then he crouched closer so that only the two of them could hear their next words. "You don't need to win to become Chuunin. I know a lot of people are impressed with your fight. Don't let it end just yet." Upon hearing that Naruto used his arms to pick himself up. He felt terrible after being blasted by a close explosion twice, but his body still moved like he wanted it to. He could easily heal up with Kurama's chakra later.

"How troublesome." Shikamaru who had only taken one explosion was nowhere near as durable as Naruto, so even if he won't win this match he wouldn't be able to fight in the next one. But as Genma said he didn't need to win, but he didn't know for sure that he could become a Chuunin while losing in the first round. As annoying as it was the only thing that he could do was to fight for the crowd. He hated these stupid pissing contests. Shikamaru rolled over and picked himself up in a similar manner to Naruto. Now the two of them were standing a short distance away from each other.

"THE MATCH CONTINUES!" Genma yelled over the roar of the crowd. They didn't expect much from this match but now most of them are on the edge of their seats in anticipation. Who would win this battle? Naruto and Shikamaru both threw a punch at the same time. The two of them blocked each other's attack. They continued to attack one another with no solid hit for a good two minutes.

"JUST GO DOWN ALREADY!" Naruto yelled as he once again tried to punch Shikamaru in the face.

"How troublesome." Shikamaru sighed as he avoided Naruto's attack. His brain wasn't working properly. 'I must have used too much chakra catching that chakra monster, and he hadn't even used the Nine Tail's power. Naruto's body seemed to be his problem but he would heal long before the next time he would have to fight. Damn jinchuriki's. It doesn't feel like I can fight the next match anyway. Maybe I should just surrender.'

It was clear that both of them were barely standing, it would take one punch to send either of them down. Naruto once again tried to hit Shikamaru, but this time he used his whole bodyweight. Shikamaru stepped to the side making Naruto overstep his attack.

'An opening!'Shikamaru thought. 'This is my win.' Shikamaru begun his attack, but suddenly he stopped and smiled. 'Maybe not.' Shikamaru decided not to attack and missed his chance. Once Naruto regained his balance he attacked again. This time Shikamaru's dodge was too slow giving him a punch in the face. With that attack Shikamaru fell to the ground. For a few seconds the entire crowd was silent as they watched Naruto stand over the fallen Shikamaru.

"WINNER! NARUTO UZUMAKI!" Genma yelled which was soon followed by an incredible roar of applause by the crowd. Naruto lifted both of his arms in victory.

'**Heh. Well done but…**'

'Yeah I know.' Naruto leaned down and picked up Shikamaru. "You didn't attack. Why not?" He let Shikamaru lean on him as he started walking to the stairs up to the waiting area.

"I would have no chance in the next fight. I would probably surrender before it starts anyway." Shikamaru chuckled. "Besides, fighting a woman is troublesome. I'll let you do that."

XXX

"HE DID IT!" Sakura punched the air while Ino grumbled beside her.

"WELL DONE NARUTO-KUN! SHOW THEM THE POWER OF YOUTH!" Lee also cheered for Naruto's victory. "It was a good show of youthfulness from both of them."

"Shikamaru let him win. You saw him stop his attack." Ino protested to Sakura's loud victory shout. A few ninja members of the crowd around them agreed with Ino's words.

"It doesn't matter if Shikamaru didn't attack. Maybe he expected a counterattack or something so he stopped. It was his mistake. Stop trying to make excuses Ino-pig."

"What was that Forehead?" The nearby crowd was torn between whether it should have been Shikamaru's win or not.

"I don't think it was that Sakura-chan." Lee decided to state his honest opinion. "I think Shikamaru gave Naruto the win." This earned him a glare from Sakura. "But I think that Naruto was holding back the whole time." This earned him a glare from Ino. Lee had just dug his own grave.

Before Lee could have his ears yelled off, Kakashi tapped Lee's shoulder and agreed with him. "You are probably right there Lee. Naruto has a power that he didn't use at all during that fight, and he says he's got a few more tricks on top of that. He probably decided to fight Shikamaru on even terms either for the sake of entertainment, or so he could use the element of surprise later. Considering his next opponent is a Sand ninja he would have more tricks against them then a Leaf ninja. I'm not saying Shikamaru didn't do well, to be honest if Shikamaru fought like that against most other competitors in the competition he would have won. It was just bad luck." With that Ino and Sakura quietened down.

"It was obvious why Naruto-kun won." Gai had joined Kakashi talking to the Genin. "His strength of youth was stronger than Shikamaru-kuns." With that his teeth sparkled. Kakashi rubbed his temple at Gai's stupid input.

XXX

"Naruto-kun won" Hinata smiled while she looked down awkwardly. Kiba next to her just smiled.

"Of course he won. What did I tell you? He doesn't know how to stay down."

"Yeah but he didn't win by his own power. He was given the win." A little voice rang out over Kiba's words.

"Hanabi-chan?" Hinata was surprised by her little sister suddenly appearing. "Why aren't you sitting with father?"

Hanabi just shrugged as she took the only free seat in the area next to Kiba. It was originally saved for Kurenai but she was probably with Asuma so it didn't concern them much. "Father just watches the matches and doesn't speak at all. It gets rather boring, so I came to sit with you. Father didn't have a problem with it." Hinata felt even more uncomfortable now that her little sister sat nearby.

"It doesn't matter that he was given the win. He still won without showing his full power. Watch the later matches Hanabi-chan, I think you'll be impressed when Sasuke and Neji fight." Kiba wanted to make sure that Hanabi knew that he was here. Akamaru yapped for the same reason.

XXX

"Damn brat." Asuma sat back in a rather sour mood. "He could have won that, even after I told him what was at stake."

"You told him about the bet?" Kurenai asked. She was rather impressed with the fight, but she still wasn't sure about Naruto Uzumaki, especially after that episode in the hospital.

"Well… Um…"

"How bad of an example could you be? You smoke in front of your students, and you tell them about a bet you made with the rest of us." A cold aura started to emit from Kurenai. "You should start setting a better example." Asuma gulped.

"I'm sorry." He slightly bowed. "But anyway, I'm impressed with that fight. I wasn't expecting him to be so strong without ITS power." His attempt to dodge the conversation failed as Kurenai begun telling him off for not being a good example.

XXX

Shikamaru and Naruto had finally arrived at the waiting section. Sasuke, Chouji and Shino were waiting at the stairway for them to arrive.

"I'd say well done, but you honestly lost that one idiot." Sasuke was the first one to speak. "Although I guess Shikamaru made the right choice, you can't fight anymore can you?"

"No, I'm beat." Shikamaru said. "I'm going to need to rest. Chouji, do you have anything to eat on you?" Chouji just nodded as he pulled out a pack of chips from his belt pack and gave it to Shikamaru.

After a quick glance at the Sand ninja who were on the other side of the waiting area Naruto made a seal. "Time to heal up." Kurama's chakra quickly flooded his system instantly healing most of his minor wounds. The deeper wounds took longer to heal. After two minutes or so all of the wounds were completely healed.

"How the…?" Shikamaru asked as Naruto now looked as though he didn't even fight, albeit the jacket he started with. Also now that he was looking, the line tattoo on Naruto's arm looked very unusual.

"Oh…" Naruto wondered what to say considering two people around him had no idea about Kurama. "It's a unique ability I have." 'And by I, I mean Kurama.'

"Does it have to do with that cloak you used against Neji?" Shino couldn't help but ask, and then he changed his mind. "Never mind, keep your trump card to yourself for now."

'**Hey brat. Something you need to hear…**'

"THE NEXT MATCH IS KANKURO VS SHINO ABURAME! WILL BOTH OF YOU COME DOWN!"

'Are you serious? That's not good.'

'**Wait a bit before you mention it. It won't be good if you say anything.**'

"I forfeit." Kankuro spoke out. "I slipped up while training a few days ago. My arm is in poor condition. There is no point in me fighting when I can't us my puppet properly. I'm sorry for wasting your time." He bowed down apologetically, but Naruto couldn't help but shake the feeling it was rehearsed. That thought was quickly brushed aside when he heard Genma's next words.

"KANKURO FORFEITS DUE TO INJURY GIVING SHINO THE VICTORY!" A whisper spread among the crowd, they weren't happy with one less match to watch. "THE NEXT MATCH IS SASUKE UCHIHA VS NEJI HYUUGA!" But as soon as Genma said this the whispering stopped and the cheering started. The rookie of this year and last year was a fight that most of them were waiting for. Neji and Sasuke began walking down in complete silence, no words needed to be said between the two opponents. Everything will be brought forward on the battlefield.

* * *

**A/N**

And done. These chapters are writing themselves so that's why they're coming out faster.

On a completely unrelated note, I CAN'T FIND A JOB! I am currently a NEET who will be educating himself next year so I'm looking for a bloody job but no one wants me *cries to find sympathy*. Looking for a job is like sitting on a bed of nails and waiting for someone to tell you to get off. Eventually they will give you what you want, but for now they enjoy watching you squirm in pain.

So while I sit here with nails up my ass, please review. And while you wait for the next chapter you can join in laughing at my misfortune.

So until next time.

Signing out Comfy Cushion


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